The joy of being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan comes from discussing hypothetical trades we would all love to see.
The Toronto Maple Leafs could use a few upgrades via free agency or trade, instead of turning to the Marlies for help.
For the foreseeable future, we’ll be doing a daily/weekly column breaking down a hypothetical trade we’d love to see the Leafs make. We’ll go through every team in the NHL, starting with the Atlantic Division. Today’s trade partner is the Boston Bruins.
Is there another sports city in the world that Toronto hates more than Boston? Don’t get me wrong, the city itself is beautiful and the people are nice, but from a sports-hating perspective, Boston is the worst.
For the past 20 years, they’ve won every Big-Four championship. If you’re a 13-year-old kid from Boston, you’ve already seen all of your favourite teams win.
Ughhhhhh!
The rivalry is going to continue in the NBA when the Toronto Raptors face the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs this week and hopefully the defending champs can out-duel them in the bubble.
But enough about basketball, let’s revisit the hockey rivalry between Toronto and Boston.
The history of both teams goes back to the “Original Six” and the Bruins hold a career 343–305–99–13 advantage over the Leafs.
The Leafs haven’t defeated the Bruins in a playoff series either since 1959 and don’t remind me about the last three playoff match-ups these two teams have played.
Not only has Boston continued to beat-down the Leafs on the ice, but they’ve helped set Toronto back years with two trades.
The Leafs once traded away Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft in addition to Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton for Phil Kessel.
The combination of Rask as your number-one goalie, Hamilton as your best defenseman and Seguin as your top-line centre would be pretty great right now.
Speaking of which, this hypothetical trade may help reverse history.
Tuukka Rask Heads To Toronto
The Trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Tuuka Rask ($7M)
- Boston Bruins acquire: Freddie Andersen ($5M) and Alex Kerfoot ($3.5M)
In this blockbuster deal, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Bruins would swap starting goaltenders who only have one year left on their deal.
Although I agree with Rask’s personal feelings of leaving the bubble and returning home, it’s quite possible that move could have caused some friction in the Bruins dressing room. As a result, the team could move on from him but still get a great asset of Andersen in return.
With a $7 million cap-hit, the Toronto Maple Leafs would be getting the former Vezina Trophy winner for one guaranteed season and then they could look to re-sign him or not. There’s a ton of goaltenders available after the 2020-21 season to look at, so they’re not tied to Rask long-term.
The Bruins’ duo of Rask and Halak was arguably the best in the NHL, but swapping Andersen for Rask won’t be a huge difference, especially on a Boston team that is already so defensively-sound.
By acquiring Rask for one season, the Leafs would finally have a goaltender they can seriously rely on. There wouldn’t be any question marks about Rask’s play because he’s proven to be one of the best net-minders in the NHL for the past seven seasons.
The one wrinkle in this trade is that the Leafs would also have to give up Alex Kerfoot for cap-reasons.
Kerfoot would fit in perfectly as a third-line centre in Boston and at his price point, the Bruins can afford him easily for the next few seasons.
I know it sounds crazy, but Rask on the Leafs for one season would help a lot of problems because instead of a top-10 goalie in the NHL with Andersen, you’d be getting a top-three net-minder with a ton to prove heading into free agency.
It’s probably too good to be true or too crazy to happen but that’s what you’re going to get with these hypothetical trades.