Toronto Maple Leafs (Mostly) Stand Pat and Essentially Win the NHL Trade Deadline

The Toronto Maple Leafs did nothing at the NHL Trade Deadline.

Though they signed Jake Muzzin (great move, great deal IMO) added Calle Rosen, and Denis Malgin last week, the Toronto Maple Leafs were happy enough with their current roster to avoid the craziness of the NHL trade deadline.

And for pretty much every team except the Hurricanes, that was probably the right move.

Heading into the day, the rumours about the Leafs trading Tyson Barrie were pretty hot, but that never amounted to anything.  I suspect because in order to make such a move worthwhile, they’d have to add an improvement over Barrie in a separate trade.

The Leafs were never doing to sell off expiring contracts while in a playoff race, unless they were ultimately improving the team.  Whatever Barrie gives you between now and the end of June, it’s more that what he would have brought back.

Rentals are a smart deadline move for teams in the Leafs position, and Barrie is essentially a rental they picked up last summer.

Toronto Maple Leafs Do Nothing

I said the Toronto Maple Leafs should stay the course, and that’s what they’re doing. They built this team, and they appear to believe in it.

When healthy, there’s good reason for that, as the team’s record with Morgan Rielly in the lineup and Sheldon Keefe behind the bench indicates.

Personally, I would have liked to seen a big player added, but if you look at the entirety of the trades made yesterday, exactly one impact player was moved: Vincent Trochek.

The fun of the trade deadline is certainly lessened when your favorite team doesn’t do anything, but ultimately, the Leafs looked at the options available to them and said pass.

Brandon Dillon, Dylan Demello, Sami Vatanen, Alec Martinez……they are all players who moved who’d have a hard time cracking the Leafs blue-line if it was healthy.

Muzzin and Holl are one of the league’s best shut-down pairs.

Rielly is an elite force and among the NHL’s best players.

Sandin is the future, and Travis Dermott has put up elite numbers in a sheltered role.

None of those guys are coming out for Brandon Dillon.

And Tyson Barrie?  He’s fine.

I know Leafs fans have to have someone to blame, but he’s honestly been a great player since Keefe took over, and the Leafs are lucky to have him.  If he was traded, he would have been the best defenseman traded at the deadline.

It’s fun to speculate about what the team could do at the trade deadline, and I wish the Leafs had made my day more exciting, but I honestly believe they have a great roster.

When they are healthy, when things start to go a little right for them, I believe we will look back and say that it’s lucky Dubas ignored his critics and stuck to his guns.

He has done some great work as the Leafs GM and when their roster is healthy I believe they can beat anyone in the NHL in a seven game series.

The Leafs stood pat because they are smart enough to put aside the short-term problems of this team and recognize they’ve already built something special.  Time will tell if they’re right.