There are roughly six weeks until the Toronto Maple Leafs begin training camp.
We’re past the two drafts and the opening of free agency. The Toronto Maple Leafs were – with one exception – fairly quiet. I expected better signings, if I’m honest.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the addition of Patrick Marleau – it can never be bad to add a Hall of Famer to the roster – but I was really hoping for Shattenkirk, Thornton, Williams or even Yakupov. I’ll take Marleau, but the combined Marleau/Hainsey/Moore signings leave a lot to be desired, as far as I’m concerned. (Just for example, Hainsey and Moore are not even close to as good as Daniel Winnik and Cody Franson, two players still available).
I wasn’t happy the Leafs lost Leipsic as the ridiculous cost of protecting Matt Martin, and certainly I think we all expected a better back-up goalie to be signed. At this point I think it would be extremely generous to rate the Leafs summer as even a five out of ten so far. And three of those stars are for fluking into Timothy Liljegren at the incomprehensible spot of 17th overall.
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Luckily, there is still plenty of time for Shannahan and Lamoriello to improve their sub-par summer. Here’s what I expect to happen the rest of the way:
Toronto Maple Leafs Late Summer Plans
1. Trade Bozak
I’d almost be willing to guarantee this. The Leafs are up against the cap, they have a better centre ready to take Bozak’s place (William Nylander) and there are teams rumored to have interest (New York, Pittsburgh).
Additionally, there is a log-jam at wing and both Kapanen and Leivo need to move into the top nine.
2. Trade van Riemsdyk for Chris Tanev
The Toronto Maple Leafs need a right handed, defense-first defenseman to fill out their roster. They have that aforementioned log-jam on the wing. And the Vancouver Canucks are inexplicably resisting the need to rebuild.
Tanev is going to be traded and so is Van Riemsyk. When or for who is elemental – it’s happening. It only makes sense that they get traded for each other.
Of course, Vancouver really has no more use for JVR than they do for Tanev at this time, so a third team will likely have to get involved.
3. Sign Cody Franson
No one else has. Franson loves the Leafs and never wanted to leave. You can never have enough right-handed defenseman and (say what you will) Cody Franson is always effective.
Is he slow? Does he look like he’s not that good? I don’t think so, but that’s what people tell me. He’s a giant, has a massive reach and he moves faster than you think.
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And he’s always, always an effective player. Cody Franson is a GREAT shot-suppressor and the Leafs are desperate for defensive help on defense. I