How Jordan Schmaltz Alters the Toronto Maple Leafs Defensive Depth

Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired Jordan Schmaltz for Andreas Borgman

At first glance, this trade is a bit of a head-scratcher. It seems like a simple one-for-one minor-leaguer for minor-leaguer trade that won’t have much of an impact on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster.

In fact, it is questionable if Schmaltz is an upgrade over Borgman at all.

This trade, however, is going to have an impact on the Leafs. Acquiring Schmaltz opens up the Leafs defensive depth chart, and balances it out, something that may become very useful down the road.

What Did the Leafs Lose?

Before we look at the team’s defensive depth, I want to break down this trade quickly.

At surface level, Borgman and Schmaltz seem very similar, both being minor-leaguers at the edge of an NHL roster. Schmaltz is 25-years-old with a total of 5 assists in 42 NHL games, spanning over the past three years. He was a former first-round pick (25th overall, 2012), which hints at a possible high ceiling if he begins to turn things around and bank on potential.

Borgman on the other hand, is 24-years-old with three goals and eight assists in 48 NHL games during the 2017-18 season.

You might be thinking that since Borgman is younger and has put up more points in more NHL games, the Leafs shouldn’t have traded him for Schmaltz.

But there’s always a negative to every positive. Borgman has had trouble staying healthy, dealing with concussion problems for some time. Last season, he was limited to just 45 games with the Toronto Marlies because of these injuries. His inability to stay healthy and play is a huge deficit to his value to the Leafs.

Taking a Look at the Depth Chart Pre-trade

The most significant distinction between Borgman and Schmaltz is their handedness, although based on the Leafs recent trades and attempted trades (they went after Muzzin, Brodie, Slavin and wanted/want to bring back Gardiner. Additionally, they played the entire season with Ron Hainsey on their top pairing) it’s not clear how much – if at all – they care about such things.

That said, if two players are roughly equal – say Borgman and Schmaltz – it makes sense to have righties on the right side and lefties on the left.

The Leafs are thin on defense, and with Travis Dermott sidelined to start the season, they only have three locks (Barrie, Rielly, Muzzin) plus  Cody Ceci.

After that the depth chat is wide open, but until Borgman was swapped for Schmaltz, it was entirely left handed other than Holl and Liljegren.  The Leafs will clearly choose the best player regardless of hand, but all things being equal would still likely prefer to have more right-handers on their roster.

Adding Schmaltz

With the addition of the right-handed Schmaltz however, the Leafs have a lot more to work with all of a sudden.

Liljegren will be a rookie and isn’t a lock to make the team. However, the problem was that Holl would have been the only defenceman ahead of Liljegren to play on that right side.

Now, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the option of playing either Holl or Schmaltz while having the security of not having to resort to Liljegren if they don’t want to.

Rielly    Ceci

Muzzin    Barrie

Harpur/Marincin/Gravel    Holl/Schmaltz

Sandin/Kivihalme    Liljegren

It’s also important to note exactly why the Blues made this trade as well. In St. Louis, Schmaltz was playing behind Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Robert Bortuzzo and emerging talent Mitch Reinke.

His chances of getting a spot on their third pair was close to none. In Toronto, he immediately is able to contend for that third-pairing spot and I wouldn’t be surprised if he steals it from Holl.

So that’s what this trade ultimately came down to–handedness. Yes, there was the benefit of a change of scenery for both players, but the handedness swap created a ripple effect for the Leafs defensive depth.

With the right side thin, the Toronto Maple Leafs created more shelter for their third-pair, at least until Travis Dermott returned from injury. Through doing this, the Leafs are able to continue sheltering Timothy Liljegren while injury-proofing their third-pairing.

But let’s not forget, there’s still plenty of time for Kyle Dubas to make more moves this offseason. We’ll see how this depth chart changes come training camp.