There was a moment late in Monday’s Maple Leafs collapse against the Blue Jackets where I became convinced that Travis Dermott will — and I mean fairly quickly — become a fixture on the Leafs D-corps.



With 4:43 to go, Leafs assistant coach D.J. Smith threw him over the boards along with Jake Gardiner and … they promptly got scored on. It was a weird play, and an unfortunate bounce, but coaches generally aren’t particularly forgiving with young defenders who just got scored on late in games, and we were now talking about a one-goal lead. It also looked like Dermott hadn’t executed his box out quite right (despite clearly understanding what he was supposed to do), but the Leafs staff left the pair on the ice, playing a shift that kept Dermott out until there was 3:49 remaining.



All I could think was, they must be seeing what I’ve been seeing, and already have confidence in how Dermott can help them. It just seemed like a moment...