Toronto Maple Leafs: Monday Mailbag, Defensive Options

It’s Monday, which means it’s time to sit down and have your Toronto Maple Leafs questions of the week answered.

It’s been a good week for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the community surrounding them. They clinched a playoff spot for the first time in full 82 game season since 2003-04 with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins this past Saturday night.

There’s a lot of playoff talk for good reason as of late.

But, for now, we’re going to shift our focus to the weekly mailbag.

Potential Defensive Targets

Most of the questions I received over the course of the past week were related to the Leafs defensive woes and the future of their blueline. That being said, I’ve decided to only talk about the questions regarding the Leafs defensive options.

I’m going to go through each player that I was asked about under their own subheading, including a question regarding how the Leafs should go about fixing their defensive hole.

Jacob Trouba

Question: Is acquiring Jacob Trouba realistic and if so, what would a trade look like?

Answer: Not really. There was a lot of trade speculation regarding Trouba and the Toronto Maple Leafs before this year’s regular season started. To some degree, it’s died down a whole lot. The reason for that is because of the Winnipeg Jets asking price for the young defenseman.

They’ve requested a one for one trade, meaning they want a left-handed defenseman of the same caliber as Trouba.

The Leafs are looking to gain defenseman, not lose them. That being said, if the Jets don’t change their mind about what they want in return, the Leafs and Jets won’t be able to finalize a deal.

The two players the Leafs could trade to the Jets for Trouba that’s within their asking price would be Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner. Now, I wouldn’t be expecting the Leafs to part ways with either of them, so it’s not looking like that will occur.

However, if the Jets come back and decide to loosen up on their ideal return, the Leafs may be able to deal. What I mean by that, is if the Jets are open to talking about trading Trouba for anything other than a defenseman, the Leafs may be an option.

The Leafs have plenty of offensive talent to deal. Not to mention prospects and draft picks. Although I think acquiring Trouba is a stretch. He’ll be looking for a big raise in his next contract, which is something I don’t think the Leafs can give him.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

More from Editor In Leaf

Question: Is acquiring Oliver Ekman-Larsson realistic?

Answer: No. There’s no chance the Toronto Maple Leafs will get Larsson in a trade. The price would be too high and unrealistic. I doubt the Arizona Coyotes would even deal Larsson in the first place.

Remember the rumors circling around before the 2016 NHL Entry Draft that the team would’ve denied a trade for the first overall pick that the Leafs had?

Now, it’s no secret that the Leafs need someone like Larsson, but don’t be expecting them to land him.

It’s just not going to happen.

Move Ideas to Fix Defensive Woes

Question: Should the Leafs move young assets/picks to go after a top pairing defenseman? What about James van Riemsdyk?

Answer: Yes. The Toronto Maple Leafs are stockpiled with prospects and draft picks. They’ve done an excellent job at drafting and developing up until this point.

However, they won’t be able to fit all of these guys into their long-term plan.

Meaning, it’s time to let some go in order to acquire a top pairing defenseman.

If the Leafs want to go with an already established top pairing defenseman, there are a few options. Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Cody Franson could all be solutions for the right price.

Those are just a few names that have been floating around, none of which have had much weight to them yet.

But nonetheless, options.

Now, a couple guys that are projected to be top pairing defenseman that I’ve thought for some time would be viable options for the Leafs are Brandon Montour and Shea Theodore.

Both of which are Anaheim Ducks prospects.

It would take a pretty big trade to get any of the names above, especially if it’s one of the Ducks prospects. Not to mention that whoever the Leafs go after, they’ll have to sign them to a favorable contact.

A couple of names off the top of my head that the Leafs could trade are van Riemsdyk, Kasperi Kapanen, and Brendan Leipsic.

Maybe the Leafs could make a package deal, combining some players, prospects and or picks to get someone. In the end, I do think they need to dish out someone to get a top pairing defenseman for next season.

Thanks, and Next Week

Many thanks to Daniel Tiller and Matthew (Mr.) Bond for the selected questions featured this week.

Keep in mind that the questions are somewhat paraphrased.

Nevertheless, the initial questions posed will always get answered.

Next week’s mailbag is on Monday, April 17th. Please send in your questions to me via Twitter (@acboehmer), email (acboehmer@liberty.edu) or by commenting on Editor in Leaf articles.

Have your questions and comments in by next Monday at noon for a chance to be featured.

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