The Toronto Maple Leafs quest for right-handed defenders continues. The Columbus Blue Jackets have one that may fit the second defensive pair.
Acquiring a top-pairing, right-shot defender is harder than it sounds, but the Toronto Maple Leafs might be able to swoop in and get a good deal on a second pairing guy.
With the expansion draft rules that are now leaking out, some teams are worse off than others. When it comes to defense, the Columbus Blue Jackets are in a jam.
Teams can protect only three defenders, and any player with a no-move clause has to be protected. That means that the Columbus Blue Jackets have to protect Fedor Tyutin as one of their three. They probably want to keep Seth Jones, so there goes two of the three protected defenders, and if I was a betting man I’d say Ryan Murray is the next player in line for protection.
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That means that the Blue Jackets, as much as they want to get rid of Jack Johnson, are likely to lose Savard to Las Vegas in the expansion draft – or, they could trade him and get something in return.
The thing about Columbus is, on top of the expansion draft, they’re also in a pretty bad cap situation. They don’t even have enough cash flow to sign Seth Jones right now. Trading Savard would solve that problem.
Savard’s numbers aren’t going to blow anyone away, but the 6’2″, 227lb defender is playing for a bad possession team and he spent 2015-2016 being drug down by Jack Johnson. He also out-played one of the more sought-after defenders this year who is allegedly on the market in Sami Vatanen.
Savard was a fourth round pick by the Blue Jackets and, by all accounts, has exceeded the expectations from his draft day. Let’s have a look at Savard’s season last year lined up against Morgan Rielly’s.
*stats from war-on-ice.com
He had a similar year to the Toronto Maple Leafs top-pairing, left-shot defender – and he’d be filling the second pairing role for the Leafs in a Mike Babcock system when the Toronto Maple Leafs get a top pairing right shot, or just run Gardiner-Rielly.
Savard is currently under contract for the next five years at $4.25M. With the cap being an issue for Columbus and Savard’s likely departure in the expansion draft, you might even be able to get Columbus to retain $500K. That would put a decent second pairing right shot under contract for five years at $3.75M. That’s a good deal.
Savard is likely going to be cheaper to acquire for the Toronto Maple Leafs simply from circumstance as well as popularity.
Next: How Active Will The Leafs Be?
All the focus right now is on defenders like Tyson Barrie and Jacob Trouba. Perhaps if those efforts dry up – if the Toronto Maple Leafs are even involved – they could turn their attention to a team that should be begging for phone calls to alleviate some cap pressure.