The Toronto Maple Leafs could use inexpensive fourth-line players and the Detroit Red Wings may have one to trade.
The history of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings goes back almost 100 years.
Even as recent as a few years ago, the Leafs and Red Wings intersected when Toronto hired the last Detroit coach to win a Stanley Cup, Mike Babcock.
When Babcock was the coach of the Leafs, the trade rumors between the blue-and-white and ‘Motor City’ were frequent.
Babcock believed in a certain system and there were numerous players still on Detroit that could fit that style.
He wanted grit, and guys who could get the puck in deep and then retrieve those pucks.
Essentially if he could have Zach Hyman on every single line, Babcock would have.
Nothing against Hyman, but the current Leafs philosophy seems more set on talent. Although Hyman is very skilled, Sheldon Keefe has experimented with a John Tavares-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner line for all-skill, compared to a puck retrieval specialist.
If we did this segment two years ago, a player like Luke Glendening would have been the number-one player the Leafs were looking at on Detroit. Although they may still be interested, he was Babcock’s favourite player and someone he wished was in Toronto.
Now, the Leafs could be interested in a more skilled player that could be valuable at a cheap price on the team’s fourth line.
Toronto Trades For Former First-Round Pick
The trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Brendan Perlini ($847K – pending RFA)
- Detroit Red Wings acquire: Nic Petan ($775K) and Kenny Agostino ($737K)
Detroit has seven pending RFA/UFA’s and only four forwards on contract for the 2021-22 season, so they need bodies.
The Red Wings are in the middle of a rebuild and they aren’t looking to win soon. Perlini only had four points in 39 games in Detroit and is a player that lost his way.
He’s played on three NHL teams thus far, but he’s shown some goal-scoring success in his career.
Perlini was second on the Arizona Coyotes in goals scored in the 2017-18 season and then finished with 12 goals in 46 games played with Chicago, so he clearly has game.
However, Perlini ended up on the fourth-line of the worst team in the NHL, so he needs to play with skillful players to get his full potential back.
If Perlini stepped into Toronto’s line-up, he could even fit in on the third-line with Alex Kerfoot and maybe Nick Robertson. Even if he had a skilled centre like John Tavares or Auston Matthews, Perlini has more than enough skill to score 15-20 goals in the NHL again.
In this trade, the Red Wings would also be getting Petan and Agostino who are better than AHL players but not quite NHL-level talents on the Leafs. Both players have the ability to crack an NHL line-up and stay there if given a chance and what better team that the Red Wings to show you’re worth it?
This isn’t as sexy of a trade as others but Perlini is only 24-years-old and has a lot of hockey left in him. The Leafs would be wise to scout out a trade on him and see what his RFA contract is worth, because he’s the type of player that fits in well to the Leafs current mold.