The Toronto Maple Leafs will be heading into this year’s trade deadline as an unpredictable wild card.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, folks. A time when, after 6 months of leeway in which to act, NHL GMs wait until, quite literally, the very last minute to make a series of potentially season-altering moves.
We’re 5 days out from the trade deadline and the stove is piping hot.
With the deadline, however, comes speculation. And with speculation, comes a reaction. It’s easy to read into the bevvy of rumours and “sources say” reports that begin to pour out in the lead up to February 25th and immediately treat them as gospel.
Why wouldn’t you? If the TV is saying these things, they must be true, right?
Spoiler alert: they’re not. Not all of them, at least.
This isn’t to accuse any insiders of peddling misinformation. Rather, it’s merely to remind you of the simple fact that people often change their minds. This sentiment applies to hockey as well.
What was reported as a sure-fire deal just twelve hours ago could very well have fallen through in the gap since, and it’s important to take stock of the sport’s ever-changing landscape before gearing up to dunk on someone on Twitter.
With that being said, here are a few pre-deadline reminders to help you keep a level head.
Consider the Motive
The thing about player agents is that a large portion of their job is just talking. Like, a lot of it. And who do agents actually talk to? Well, that would be insiders, of course. The same insiders who report on trade speculation.
Do you see what I’m getting at here?
Not every scoop can be taken at face value. In hockey – and pretty much every other facet of life as well – the vast majority of people are in a constant effort to further their own interests. It’s human nature.
So, if you’re an agent trying to gauge your client’s potential value, you might just go about that by mentioning to a media member in passing that his team is shopping him around, and then sit back to watch the fallout.
Of course, no one in the NHL has gone on the record to confirm this. But a nearly identical scenario just went down in the NBA, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst basically confirmed two weeks ago that the New Orleans Pelicans were intentionally leaking certain details from their reported “trade talks” with the Los Angeles Lakers regarding superstar Anthony Davis as a way to divide and crush the confidence of a young Lakers locker room.
First of all, that’s downright cold-blooded. But it’s also not necessarily a stretch to think that these tactics could filter their way to the NHL.
Again, no one has confirmed this, and probably never will, so it’s purely speculation. Don’t sue me for slander, pretty please. Just keep it in the back of your mind the next time you stumble across a scoop that doesn’t seem to make sense, and consider the motivations which could lie behind it.
Consider the Source
This is basically in regards to the recent Adam McQuaid rumours linking the gargantuan defenceman to the Leafs.
Remember the Dave Nonis Era? Good times, right?
Aside from signing David Clarkson to a contract worth the GDP of a small country and apparently making it buyout proof to boot, perhaps the biggest gripe lobbied at the entire Nonis Administration was that they just would not shut up. Like, ever.
Every single day, some member of the front office would hop onto a radio show and every single day you’d prepare yourself for the unmitigated cringe-fest to follow. Then, once that sliver of hell was over, the rest of your day would be spent bemoaning the paper-thin justification management just gave for benching Nazem Kadri in favour of Jared Smithson, and the horrific cycle would start anew tomorrow.
This type of constant dread definitely left some scars within Leafs Nation. Scars which undoubtedly linger to this day, and can conceivably be held responsible for the wave of anxiety that proceeded to engulf Twitter from the moment the McQuaid rumour first dropped.
Case in point; the Nonis Era conditioned Leaf fans into believing that their front office used the media as a type of mouthpiece. And, frankly, those fans would be right.
Management just talked so damn much – particularly to a few select sources – which meant that if certain trade rumours were lobbed out into the ether, there was a good chance the Leafs had legitimately discussed making them.
Five years ago, there’s a 99% chance that McQuaid to Toronto would have been reported on the basis that the Leafs were seriously considering bringing him in.
But this isn’t five years ago. This is now.
How this current Leafs regime handles the media has essentially taken a 180-degree turn in the half-decade since Trader Dave’s unceremonious exit. The offices at Scotiabank Arena are basically the modern day Fort Knox.
Nothing gets out. No leaks, no inside information, nothing.
Do you remember hearing any talk in the lead up to the Jake Muzzin trade? No, because there wasn’t any. It came totally out of the blue.
If Kyle Dubas can successfully drop a blockbuster move on the world – one that he’d apparently been negotiating for over a month, mind you – without anyone knowing beforehand, what makes you think he’d tip his hand on potentially adding a bottom-of-the-barrel third-pairing D?
He wouldn’t. So, consider the source.
The Leafs Are Good, Even Without Another Move
In spite of the fact that the Leafs are probably not yet done with their pre-deadline tinkering, there’s still a decently good chance that February 25th will come and pass with no sizeable changes being made to the roster.
Would that be disappointing? Sure. There are still a few holes in Toronto’s lineup (*cough* Rielly – Hainsey *cough*) that a last-minute move could help plug, so an entire day of inaction is obviously not the most ideal outcome.
Nevertheless, if this does happen, please remember one important thing:
This is a good hockey team.
Even when factoring in last night’s OT heartbreak in St. Louis, the Leafs currently sit third overall in the NHL standings, fifth overall in goals-for, and have managed to produce above league-average results in nearly every important statistical category to this point in the year.
None of that happened by accident.
This current iteration of the Leafs – perhaps more so than any which have come before them – bear all the makings of a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Not pulling the trigger on a Radko Gudas or Niklas Jensen acquisition won’t change that.
Even if management does opt to stand pat at the deadline, this is a lineup that, barring any unforeseen late-season slumps, will boast 7 different 20-goal-scorers, a point-per-game defenceman, and a fringe-Vezina-candidate in net come year’s end.
And that’s just the Cole’s Notes version of their dominance.
These Leafs are staggeringly deep. Deep enough to succeed in the playoffs and, perhaps, even deep enough to overcome their head coach’s unrelenting portrayal of stubbornness that likely won’t come to an end any time soon.
Basically, don’t lose your mind if nothing happens.
Thanks for reading!
All stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com