Carrick welcomes dogfight on deeper defence

At 22, unsigned Maple Leafs winger William Nylander is coming off back-to-back 61-point seasons.

NIAGARA FALLS— Connor Carrick gets what all the fuss is about, the arguments about whether the defence corps is the Maple Leafs’ weak link.

“The forwards are loaded as far as superstar talent, and we added another,” Carrick said at training camp. “Our goaltender is as good as anybody. The guy’s a workhorse. He plays the puck well, he’s massive, he’s athletic. I don’t know what else you’d want.

“So they’ve got to come up with something in terms of something to pick on. As defencemen, we can take it.”

But the battle for jobs on the blue line — and the returning Carrick isn’t a lock — is perhaps one of the reasons why the coaching staff and management have said the defence will be better than folks believe.

“No one is arguing that Drew Doughty or Brent Burns couldn’t help our group,” said Carrick. “There are 31 teams that would take them. But there’s a way that your team is structured and there’s a way to have guys (under) the salary cap.

“You can do it by committee. Teams have done it and won it that way. … We’ve got some high-end talent. We’ve got guys who can get up and down the rink. We realize how special our forwards are. Get the puck to those guys and let them do their thing.”

There are certainly things to like about the Leafs’ blue line:

á Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner both eclipsed 50 points last season.

á Ron Hainsey will again pair with Rielly in a shutdown role against top lines, and anchor the penalty kill.

á Travis Dermott was a welcome boost upon his recall from the Marlies last season.

But there are questions: Is Dermott for real? Will Nikita Zaitsev bounce back after injuries drained his confidence last season? And who will emerge for that coveted sixth defence spot?

Carrick is trying to keep his spot despite big pushes from Justin Holl, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman — each of whom got a taste of the NHL last year.

And there’s 25-year-old Igor Ozhiganov, who signed as a free agent from Russia.

“The competition for jobs is very high,” said coach Mike Babcock. “There’s not much to pick between players.”

Holl finished last year with Martin Marincin — who is also in this camp — on the top pair of the Calder Cup champion Marlies. Babcock has dropped his name, unprompted, on more than one occasion.

“The bottom line is, I have to play well,” said Holl. “If I can play as well as I can, I feel good about it either way.”

Rosen and Borgman were celebrated as big European freeagent signings before last season, but struggled.

Borgman started last season with the Leafs, then tailed off before rediscovering his game with the Marlies. Injuries were a factor, limiting him to two games in the AHL playoffs. He’s the most physical of the contenders, the most likely candidate to catch Babcock’s eye if the coach is looking for someone to kill penalties like Roman Polak used to.

“The team needs a little bit of grit, so hopefully I can fill in that spot,” said Borgman.

Rosen said it took until midseason to get used to life in North America and playing on the smaller ice surface, but he expects more of himself in his second Leafs camp.

“I’m going to play hard, do my job and try to win a job here,” said Rosen, who emerged as a scoring threat through the Calder Cup playoffs. “I played with confidence in the playoffs, and that’s what I’m going to try to do here — be confident in my game. I know I’m a good player. I just have to be able to show it.”

Each of the candidates is brimming with confidence. By the end of camp, some are sure to be disappointed.

“It’s always a privilege to be part of the NHL,” said Carrick. “Whether you think you have security or not, it’s more of an illusion than reality. There are people in power whose job it is to replace you with better value. Everyone is working to make everyone else’s job more difficult. That’s what’s beautiful about the level of competition.

“That’s what you want. That’s what your team should have. You want it to be like a war chest: locked and loaded. There should be a healthy amount of disgruntlement.”