Nicholas Lucciantonio
The most important thing the Leafs need right now is a great defenceman to help out Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner. John Carlson is that guy.
Carlson scores and logs big minutes, playing an average of almost 25 minutes per game. He led all defencemen in scoring this past season with a whopping 68 points. Not to mention, he came one point shy of being a point-per-game player in this year’s playoffs. 11 points in 12 playoff games aren’t too shabby for the 28-year-old.
Still having many great seasons left in the tank, he won’t be cheap.
With James Van Riemsdyk at an AAV of $4,250,000, Tyler Bozak at an AAV of $4,200,000, and Leo Komarov at an AAV of 2,950,000 most likely leaving in free agency, we can afford Carlson. He will most likely get around 7-8 million. And, with those three out, we have almost 11.5 million to spend.
Although, the Leafs do have to look to next season. As well as when the team will have to sign their big three young stars. The trio will be costly. But, the team’s only need is defence improvements.
The Leafs don’t need much help on the offensive end, what with our young stars getting better each year. Our goalie situation is great with Frederik Andersen, who has been fantastic in the two seasons since we traded for him.
The Leafs’ back-end needs a lot of improvement and Carlson can provide exactly that.