The Toronto Maple Leafs need to address the right-side of their blueline this off-season and Dylan DeMelo could be a guy for them to consider in free agency.
For the past few years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have relied heavily on an impressive offensive group headlined by some of the league’s legitimate superstars, but their defensive corps have never quite reached the same heights.
Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin are exceptional talents and the future still looks bright for the likes of Rasmus Sandin and even Timothy Liljegren, but the unit has not been able to come together in the way that the team needs in order to take the next step towards challenging for the Stanley Cup.
The left side of the defense appears to be set now, with Rielly, Muzzin and Sandin or Travis Dermott filling out the roles while the right side has seen the likes of Ron Hainsey and Cody Ceci playing top minutes when neither is truly capable.
Dylan DeMelo Could Be An Option
One player that could be worth exploring any potential interest in signing with the team is Dylan DeMelo, who most recently played for the Winnipeg Jets after being traded by the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline.
DeMelo is a player who has had an interesting career, having originally been a late-round draft pick that has seemingly flourished, playing middling minutes with the San Jose Sharks before he was a part of the huge trade package that saw them acquire Erik Karlsson from the Canadian capital.
Since then, DeMelo has shown a clear capability to play big minutes in the NHL – something the Leafs themselves are reportedly keen on adding to their blueline.
After averaging between 13 and 15 minutes of ice time in California, DeMelo played over 19 minutes consistently for the Senators before averaging over 21 minutes in the ten regular-season games he played for the Jets before the season was shut down.
He continued clocking in over 21 minutes when the play-ins rolled around, proving that he is valued highly by the Jets and could fill a much-needed role for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were rumoured to be interested in DeMelo before the trade deadline.
DeMelo could fit the bill for the Leafs, especially considering their tight cap situation entering next season. Over the past two years, DeMelo has earned a flat $900,000 per season, with no signing bonuses or additional incentives.
He will be looking for a bigger payday this off-season, but he might not be demanding enough to take him out of the Leafs’ grasp, with a deal in the region of $2 million potentially being enough to secure him in the short-term – costing similar to Justin Holl’s new deal.
What makes DeMelo an intriguing option for the Toronto Maple Leafs, besides his capability to play big minutes, is he could be viewed as ‘Muzzin Lite’ thanks to his physical style of play, despite having a smaller frame than the current Leafs blueliner.
Muzzin gives the Leafs something they don’t have much of across their roster and his absence was noticed heavily when he suffered an injury against the Blue Jackets, as the team didn’t have another guy that could do what he does.
DeMelo, while not doing it quite as much as Muzzin, puts his body to work blocking shots and throwing hits. Last season he blocked 130 shots and threw 121 hits in his first campaign with the Senators. (Stats via hockey reference)
In the shortened season this year, DeMelo had fewer blocks with 77 but he was in fact on pace to eclipse his hits tally by some margin (137) had he reached the same number of games as the previous campaign.
For a guy that stands at 6-foot, 195lbs, DeMelo isn’t afraid to be physical and would give the Toronto Maple Leafs another guy that can complement what Muzzin does on the ice, potentially reducing the impact of losing Muzzin for any reason during the season.
His impact at 5-on-5 for the Senators was also clear to see. When looking at his heat maps (via hockeyviz.com), the Senators allowed more excess shots on net across their defensive zone when DeMelo wasn’t playing compared to when he was on the ice, with fewer shots being allowed close to the net and more shots generally spread out further wide.
This isn’t the only way to tell of DeMelo’s effectiveness, but his physical play combined with these statistics suggest he could be the perfect undervalued player that the Leafs need to really give their defensive corps a jolt and help them push forward.
He is a right-shooting defenseman, a huge commodity in today’s NHL, and would be able to fit into the Leafs’ top-four immediately should he be a legitimate target of theirs.
While there will be many players that the Toronto Maple Leafs are linked with, DeMelo could be a really valuable addition to the roster and help the team start to put together a corps that can finally compete and go deeper in the playoffs