The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a unique situation.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have one season left where Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are both on their entry level contracts. Once those expire, the Leafs will have to commit about $20 million annually to keep both players in blue and white.
That means that this upcoming season, while they are still cheap, that the Leafs will be able to fit in more good players under the salary cap than they ever will be able to again.
While no one is advocating an all-in approach, a sensible amount of risk is appropriate when building the team for next season – The Leafs need to do what they can in order to try and win while Matthews and Marner are on their ELCs.
To that end, there are two players the Leafs should be targeting this offseason: Nino Niederreeiter and Jakov Silfverberg.
Two Wingers
Now, I know what you’re saying: Jim, aren’t the Leafs really deep on the wing?
Sort of. Patrick Marleau is 100, Zach Hyman plays too high up in the lineup, JVR and Komarov are leaving, Connor Brown is probably topped out at 20 goals, and William Nylander is a centre.
The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest problem is that their team defense sucks. They allowed more shots than almost any other team last year. The main reason is that their forwards, for the most part, are not good at defense.
Which is why I’m saying they should target either Niederreiter or Silfverberg. Both are considered among the best defensive wingers in the game.
Nino is 25 and signed for four more seasons at $5.25 million annually. He can score too and that’s good value for one of the best all-round 5v5 wingers in the NHL.
Defense
The problem with Nino is that it might cost a lot to acquire him. It’s not impossible that the ever changing Wild might look to move on from that salary commitment however, so theoretically he could be available. Every team needs a player this good defensively and as long as Nylander isn’t involved, he’d be worth almost any package it’d take to acquire him.
A second choice is Silfverberg. He’s onder, 27, and cheaper. He makes just under $4 million, but is signed only through next year. That means he’s a player the Leafs could use to leverage their upcoming Matthews/Marner final ELC season, and then move on from.
The cost to acquire him might not be much because he’s a pending UFA. Silfverberg pretty much gives you the same thing every year: 15 goals, 40 points and great defense.
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Either player would help the Toronto Maple Leafs fix their biggest weakness, which is the defensive acumen of their forwards.