If there is one thing that fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs always clamour for the team to address, it is shoring up the blueline. It is understandable given that the Leafs have not had a true number-one defenceman in quite some time, with the most recent ones being Tomas Kaberle and Borje Salming. And while the team of recent years have always possessed a strong forward core, their defence was never up to snuff with the rest of the field.

The Leafs have a chance to potentially address that multi-generational need when they make their second-round selection if they go with Landon Nycz. At first glance, it may seem odd that the Leafs would be wise to consider a defenceman who only put up a goal and three points in his draft year at UMass. But dig a bit deeper, and you learn that Nycz is a two-way defender with great mobility and got more comfortable with the college game as his freshman season rolled on.

Nycz was the third-youngest defenceman in Division I hockey this past season, with the only ones younger being Lincoln Kuehne and Keaton Verhoff. Although he was only 17 years old when he stepped on campus, his maturity and drive allowed him to be a regular in the lineup, which is an impressive achievement for a player of his age. UMass head coach Greg Carvel was highly complimentary of Nycz’s mobility and compared him favourably to Cale Makar, whom he coached for two seasons. Carvel even went as far as to consider Nycz the second-best defenceman he has ever coached behind only Makar.

“His feet catch everybody’s attention,” Carvel said to NHL.com’s Heather Engel. “But he’s very driven. He’s a quiet kid, serious kid. I think coming in as a younger player, it was a lot — for anybody. He had a lot of eyes on him this year. Give him a lot of credit; he learned a lot. I think he’s set up to have an exceptional sophomore year at UMass.”

Here’s what Daily Faceoff prospect expert Steven Ellis wrote about Nycz in his May draft rankings:

The Leafs’ prospect pool as a whole is not as bad as people claim it to be, but it could certainly benefit from additional reinforcement on the backend. There are certainly some bright spots in Ben Danford, William Villeneuve, and Noah Chadwick, but none of them are projected to become a top-pairing defenceman at this stage. This isn’t to suggest that Nycz is guaranteed to be the solution, but it is to highlight that this is something the Leafs would be wise to address with one of their picks outside of their first overall pick on what is likely to be Gavin McKenna.

His overall lack of offence is why he is not projected to go until late in the second round, but that shouldn’t stop teams like the Leafs from betting on Nycz taking another step in his sophomore season. In fact, he told reporters at the draft combine that he was going to Toronto to meet with the Leafs, which indicates their interest in him. For a guy who tried to model his game these days after Devon Toews and Mike Matheson, one can imagine that the Leafs would be pleased with the outcome of Nycz becoming a similar player once fully developed.

It will no doubt take him some time to reach that potential, but the Leafs would be smart to consider going with Nycz when they make their second pick of the 2026 NHL Draft later this month.