Toronto Maple Leafs: Send Martin Back to Long Island

The Toronto Maple Leafs should look to move Matt Martin at the trade deadline.

Recently in an Editor in Leaf roundtable, I discussed the need for Lou Lamoriello and the Toronto Maple Leafs to trade Matt Martin.

Martin, a Windsor, Ontario native has been a healthy scratch for the Toronto Maple Leafs since January 22nd when they battled the Colorado Avalanche. So far this season, Martin has 3 goals, 8 assists and 45 PIM in 47 games.

Instead of using Martin as of late, Mike Babcock has opted to go with rookie forward, Kasperi Kapanen. Kapanen provides the Toronto Maple Leafs with speed, good hands and a solid penalty killer. He proved that he can instrumental the other night against the Nashville Predators, when he had a short-handed goal against Pekka Rinne.

All around, Kapanen is better fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s a better fit mainly because of his speed and he can play at both ends of the ice.

Potential Landing Spot

A couple days ago, Kate Eliou, a contributor for the Eyes on Isles wrote a post on the possibility of Martin being dealt to the New York Islanders. Eliou wrote about the need for the Islanders to re-create their previous fourth line of Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas and Martin.

To be honest, that makes complete sense.

Martin previously played for the Islanders from 2009 to 2016. He was a main stay on the Islanders’ fourth line.

As of late, the Islanders’ fourth line have seemed to have lost their physicality. According to DailyFaceoff.com, the current fourth line for New York is comprised of Ross Johnston, Casey Cizikas and Jason Chimera.

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Since Johnston’s call up, he’s been playing quite well. He has 2 goals and 1 assist in the last five games. Based on his offensive skill-set, he’d most likely be better off on the third line with Brock Nelson and Andrew Ladd.

Once the Isles move Johnston up to the third line, they could waive Jason Chimera. Chimera is having one of his worst seasons and looks like his playing days are coming to an end. After Chimera is waived and sent to Bridgeport, the Islanders could re-create their old fourth line of Clutterbuck, Cizikas and Martin.

Who Will Provide The Leafs With Physicality?

Don’t fret Leafs Nation, if the Toronto Maple Leafs moved on from Martin prior to the trade deadline. The Toronto Maple Leafs would still have Leo Komarov to provide physicality.

In fact, Komarov has more hits at even strength than Martin this season. To date, Komarov has 168 hits in 57 games while Martin has 135 hits in 47 games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs could also call up Frederik Gauthier down the stretch if they need more physicality.

Dealing Martin, Keeping JVR

Plus if the Toronto Maple Leafs deal Matt Martin at the trade deadline, they’ll free up $2.5 million per season.

The $2.5 million that is allotted for Martin, could be of use when Lamoriello sits down with James van Riemsdyk to discuss a possible extension.

JVR will be a free agent on July 1st. If the Leafs don’t retain JVR, they’ll be losing one of their strongest offensive playmakers. JVR is second on the Leafs in goal scoring with 22 goals. He also loves to plant himself in front of opposing net-minders and deflect shots. Without JVR, the Leafs squad would suffer next season.

Next: Most Likely to Be Traded

JVR will most likely command a high salary and the $2.5 million in savings could prove to be pivotal in keeping JVR in Toronto.

statistics from hockey-reference.com