Toronto Maple Leafs Will Reportedly Trade Fedor Gordeev

The Toronto Maple Leafs sure do love their asset management.

After a report surfaced yesterday evening which stated that he would not, in fact, receive an Entry-Level Contract from the Maple Leafs, it appears as if defence prospect, Fedor Gordeev, will now pursue his NHL future in Minnesota in the coming days.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported this morning that the Maple Leafs currently have a deal in place to send Gordeev’s signing rights over to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a conditional 7th round pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. The condition on the pick in question hinges upon Gordeev eventually signing an ELC with the Wild – a move which, according to McKenzie, is “fully expected to happen”.

This trade may very well seem ancillary and unimportant, but its implications are interesting to track nonetheless.

For the second consecutive year, Kyle Dubas has managed to squeeze an asset out of an unsuspecting team in exchange for the rights to a prospect, picked during a bygone Leafs era, that he had no intention to sign.

Nolan Vesey happened to fill this role last year, to the surprise of many. After Vesey, a 2014 6th rounder, spent four underwhelming seasons in the NCAA with the University of Maine following his draft year, he was deemed unworthy of a contract spot by Leafs management prior to the June 1st deadline and was otherwise expected to become a free agent. He was, that is, until the Edmonton Oilers came calling. And in a breathtaking dismissal of asset management, then-Oilers GM, Peter Chiarelli, swooped in to acquire Vesey’s signing rights for the price of a 2020 7th round pick, conditional upon Vesey signing an ELC with Edmonton.

28 minutes following the announcement of the trade, the condition was fulfilled.

The 24-year-old Vesey would go on to rack up 3 points in 17 games for Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors this season, and another 10 points in 32 games spent with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL.

Gordeev is a similar case. After four years of scant production at the OHL level, the 2017 5th rounder was thought unlikely by most to be given an ELC by the Maple Leafs. From there, Gordeev would have conceivably re-entered the 2019 draft, allowing Minnesota to the opportunity to wait until the deadline passed to spend their own 2019 7th rounder on him, instead of flippantly gifting it to another team. It made sense, after all. Betting on a lack of suitors for Gordeev’s services is not exactly a dumbfounding move. But Paul Fenton apparently believed Gordeev to be a hot commodity amongst the returning group of over-agers, and surrendered an asset to ensure he was theirs.

The thought of a turning a former-5th round pick into a current 7th round pick may not initially sound very exciting, but it’s important to remember that Gordeev was a product of a draft class that reflected the vision of then-Leafs Assistant GM, Mark Hunter, who has since left the organization. Dubas is in charge now, having spent the bulk of his first year in the GM’s chair shaping the Maple Leafs’ scouting department into something that closely resembles his own developmental ideology.

In getting a 7th-rounder more or less for free, Dubas now receives a lottery ticket that he can spend on the prospect of his choice, rather than attempting to salvage one he inherited. Neither player has a very good chance of ever seeing NHL ice when all is said and done. But Dubas seems content with betting on his own vision.

And given the near complete lack of risk involved, it seems like a worthwhile gamble.

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