Toronto Maple Leafs: This Team Is a Trade Partner Made In Heaven
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs have an offseason checklist, just like every team in the NHL.
So what if I told you that there was a team chock-full of great players, most of whom fit the mold of what Kyle Dubas is likely to be looking for, ran by one of the worst general managers of all time, and which recently let it leak that they will trade basically anyone on their roster? That this team could constitute a one-stop-shop for all the Toronto Maple Leafs needs?
Enter the Carolina Hurricanes and their hilarious decision to hire Don Wadell and Rick Dudley to run their team.
That sound you heard? It’s Kyle Dubas getting ready to pounce. Or it was Aho crying. Not sure which.
The Carolina Hurricanes are a classic example of the horrible way in which people who own hockey teams choose to run them. They set up a very forward thinking, analytics based operation and then panicked when they didn’t get the results they wanted, even though half the reason you’d rely on analytics is that results are random and not predictive.
Carolina missed the playoffs, despite, goalies aside, being one of the league’s better teams. (They were among the league leaders in possession stats and in limiting shots against). Being unable to realize that results are random and that missing the playoffs doesn’t necessary mean your team is bad, they overreacted in a completely predictable way, fired their entire front-office and their coach, and now are saying their entire roster is available.
If it wasn’t so predictable and so stupid, it might be funny.
And, to make matters worse, they hired two life-long members of the Good Hockey Guy Club, despite their spotty career records, to run their team.
Enter the Leafs
Concerned with your centre-ice depth, or unsure of if Nylander should be a centre? Trade for Jordan Staal, one of the NHL’s most underrated superstars.
Need to upgrade the capability of your wingers to play defense? Trade for two-way dynamo Teuvo Teravainen.
Replace JVR with Jeff the Skin Man Skinner if you want. The Leafs already have maybe the fastest team in hockey, why not go full video game?
What’s that? Your biggest need is a right-handed defenseman who can play defense and won’t break the bank? How about young, not injury prone Chris Tanev, AKA Brett Pesce? This cat limits shots against in the way that Roman Polak allows them. And he scores a bit. Yes, he’s the perfect partner for Morgan Rielly. And he’s signed for six years for peanuts. ($4 mill/per).
The Leafs are going to be all over the Hurricanes for this guy if he’s truly available. Then again, there’s also Slavin and Faulk and Hannifin. The Hurricanes fired the guy who assembled one of the best young groups of defenseman in the NHL and now don’t seem to realize what they have.
Next: Toronto Maple Leafs Rountable: UFA Version
I look very much forward to seeing if the Leafs can take advantage of this fortuitous situation.