The Toronto Maple Leafs should sell their pending unrestricted free agents.
That means that the Leafs should say goodbye to Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk in the next few weeks. I’ve been a vocal proponent of keeping these players, but I think I’ve come to see things in a different way lately.
Leo Komarov cannot score. He’s great defensively, but the cost of that defense is sapping a 30 goal / 70 point centre of most of his offense. Tyler Bozak wins faceoffs. That’s about it. You might think faceoffs are really important, given how much they talk about them on literally every broadcast, but they aren’t. You can google it. The math is solid and it’s a fact: faceoffs don’t matter. Even if they did, Bozak is so bad defensively that they wouldn’t make up for it.
As for James van Riemsdyk, you just have to play the odds. 16 teams go the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and two make the final. The Leafs do not appear like they’re going to load up for an insane run based off it being the last year all their young players are on entry level deals, so I say play the odds. That means they are almost certainly not winning the Cup this year, and so retaining an asset for JVR is probably the smart thing to do.
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A second rounder can get you a Duncan Keith or a PK Subban, so it’s nothing to laugh at. Hell, some desperate team might pay you a first if you let them negotiate – who knows! The point is that if the Leafs are creative and make the value play, JVR should be traded.
Furthermore, accumulating draft picks can be very helpful for future trades.
Sell! Sell! Sell!
Given the odds of winning, the potential value of what they can get back, and the fact that trading these players would give more responsibility (in the game and in the room) to the Leafs young players, which will possibly accelerate their timetable for winning, it seems like a no-brainer to move these guys.
The fact is, the Toronto Maple Leafs can be a seller at the deadline without giving up on the season. Miro Aaltonen can replace Bozak with probably no loss of quality to the team. Komarov is already on the fourth line, and while you can’t replace JVR’s goals, he is still only on the team’s third line and they have about a dozen NHL ready players waiting to step in.
Next: Weber for Nylander? Um, No!
I’ve come full circle. I didn’t think the Leafs should trade these guys, but now I do. I got new information and I changed my mind. The Toronto Maple Leafs need to be selling at the deadline.