Toronto Maple Leafs: Assessing Viable Landing Spots for Patrick Marleau
By Kyle Cushman
Colorado
Last year, Joe Sakic acquired a starting goaltender by taking on Brooks Orpik‘s contract. This year, Sakic is once again sniffing around a cap-strapped team looking to create space.
Colorado is a rare combination of a contending team with plenty of room to work with. The Avalanche enter the offseason with over $35 million to work with, though they will have to use a fair portion to sign RFAs Mikko Rantanen, J.T. Compher, and Alexander Kerfoot.
Despite making the second round, the Avalanche have a clear weakness up front. A lack of depth beyond Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Rantanen limit this team’s ceiling. Just as Sakic did a year ago in addressing a lack of goaltending past the 2018-19 season when he traded for Philipp Grubauer, Sakic could be looking towards the Toronto Maple Leafs to address some of his scoring woes.
The Avalanche have no need for another prospect at this time. Taking on Patrick Marleau’s cap hit to acquire a draft pick or a prospect is of no help to a team looking to build off of a second round appearance.
Instead, Colorado will almost certainly look to pry NHL talent from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sakic would be remiss if he didn’t pressure Kyle Dubas with the threat of an offer sheet towards one of Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson, which could make a Grubauer-esque trade much more of a reality than what we currently anticipate.
Still, I doubt Colorado is where Marleau lands. Denver is nearly 1500km from San Jose and the Avalanche would be better suited to chase other options with the money they have to spend this offseason.
Regardless, it is very interesting that Colorado has been involved in conversations about a Marleau trade, which could indicate the Leafs will have to part with a significant asset to relieve themselves of the $6.25-million cap hit.