I do not agree that team defense wasn't a strong suit for the Leafs. Their defense was consistently solid under Keefe and that was with a D core that really wasn't all that talented. The Leafs issue was always their depth scoring (the Devils depth scoring does also scare me a bit but still might be a bit better than the Leafs was). The Devils D is far more talented than anything Keefe had to work with in Toronto. Yeah there's the 4 less experienced guys but there's also 4 guys who are very established in Dougie, Siegenthaler, Pesce, and Dillon. Also while yeah the young guys are inexperienced 3/4ths of them are supremely skilled guys. Luke and Nemec have already proven to be solid NHLers as well. Then Kovacevic is a really steady guy.
I do not agree that team defense wasn't a strong suit for the Leafs. Their defense was consistently solid under Keefe and that was with a D core that really wasn't all that talented. The Leafs issue was always their depth scoring (the Devils depth scoring does also scare me a bit but still might be a bit better than the Leafs was). The Devils D is far more talented than anything Keefe had to work with in Toronto. Yeah there's the 4 less experienced guys but there's also 4 guys who are very established in Dougie, Siegenthaler, Pesce, and Dillon. Also while yeah the young guys are inexperienced 3/4ths of them are supremely skilled guys. Luke and Nemec have already proven to be solid NHLers as well. Then Kovacevic is a really steady guy.