The season may be lost, but the Leafs seem to have found something in 23-year-old defenseman Carl Gunnarsson.

 

Not a flashy player by any stretch, it's no surprise that Gunnarsson has flown somewhat under the radar this season, but the 194th pick in the 2007 draft has quietly put together a strong rookie campaign based upon an unspectacular if not efficient game.

 

“I think that’s one of the biggest things about a good defenseman that sometimes you don’t want to notice them too much,” Rickard Wallin says of Gunnarsson. “They’re just there and he’s exactly like that.”

 

Gunnarsson didn’t make the Leafs out of camp this past fall, but it wasn’t because of his play. There just wasn’t room. Mike Komisarek’s quad injury in mid-November opened the door however and he's done nothing but improve since in spite of an elbow injury that sidelined him for six weeks. His reliable defensive game ...