The Toronto Maple Leafs could enter next season with one single returning blue-liner from last seasons opening night roster, when they open the 2019-20 season this October.
Last year’s opening night lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs featured Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey, Nikita Zaitsev, Travis Dermott, Morgan Rielly and Igor Ozhiganov.
Gardiner may or may not re-sign (he probably won’t). Zaitsev was traded, Hainsey is gone, Ozhiganov went to Russia, and Dermott is injured and won’t play until November.
Only Morgan Rielly will return.
Rielly will be joined by Tyson Barrie, Jake Muzzin, and some combo of Gardiner (never give up hope) Cody Ceci, Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin, Ben Harpur, Jordan Schmaltz and Kevin Gravel.
But what is far more interesting, is the collection of players the Leafs are rumoured to have tried and acquired this summer.
Could’a Been Toronto Maple Leafs
T.J Brodie – The Leafs traded for Tyson Barrie, but that is only because Nazem Kadri vetoed the Leafs original plan to send him to Calgary as part of a deal for left-hander T.J Brodie.
Jake Gardiner – It is well known that the Leafs want(ed) to bring back Jake Gardiner. It could still happen!!
Darnell Nurse – According to the Athletic’s James Mirtle, the Toronto Maple Leafs were trying to pull off a “blockbuster deal, before talks broke down” with the Oilers regarding Nurse.
Jacob Slavin – The fourth straight left-hander on this list, Jacob Slavin was also sited as a target of the Leafs by James Mirtle in the same article. Interesting that while the media continues to obsess over right-handed defenseman, the Leafs appear to be over it.
Sure, they happened to get a righty in Tyson Barrie, but appears to have been way down their list of choices.
Ben Hutton – Another lefty, Hutton was rumored to be a target of the Leafs on July first. I’m not sure why they are interested in him, as his stats don’t paint a great picture, but for a million or less, I guess he’d be alright.
Hutton is still available and I wouldn’t rule out the Toronto Maple Leafs eventually signing him.
Jacob Trouba – He eventually signed with the Rangers after the Jets traded him to New York, but Trouba for Kadri was a non-stop rumour for nearly a year.
Kevin Shattenkirk – While Shattenkirk eventually ended up in Tampa, word round the old campfire is that the Leafs offered him a $1 million dollar one year contract.
Brett Pesce – A player that would be a great fit on the Leafs, Pierre Lebrun reported that the Leafs attempted to get him for Kapanen. I am kind of glad that didn’t happen, as Kapanen is so fun to watch
P.K Subban – The big one is P.K Subban who the Leafs almost landed for a discount on draft day. Subban eventually went to the Devils for peanuts, and the rumour is that the Leafs offered a better package of player, but wanted Nashville to eat a lot of salary.
In the end, the Leafs ended up with Tyson Barrie and the (ever shrinking) possibility that they might bring back Gardiner. I for one am pretty psyched to watch a full season of Tyson Barrie, although I’d have been equally happy with Slavin, Nurse, Subban, Trouba or Brodie.
Knowing that the Leafs pursued these players, we can appreciate the fact that they were swinging aggressively for the fences. We can’t even be too disappointed because Barrie is as exciting as any of these guys.
One thing we do know for sure: the Leafs definitely do not care about what hand a defenseman shoots, and are clearly just interested in good players, regardless of how they shoot.