Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas should look to his mentor to make a deal.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to upgrade their right-defense and the New York Islanders could have a pending Restricted Free Agent worth trading for. Lou Lamoriello, current New York Islanders general manager, is Dubas’ mentor.
When Dubas served as Lamoriello’s assistant G.M. from 2015-2018, he took him under his wing to provide guidance and groom him to become a future executive. In terms of a mentor, there’s not too many better to learn from than Lamoriello. At 77-years-old, he’s accomplished everything in professional hockey. Even at his age, the Hall-of-Famer is working harder than ever to win a Stanley Cup with the Islanders.
Here’s what Lamoriello said to nhl.com about his relationship with Dubas, following Dubas’ promotion in 2018.
"“My relationship with Kyle Dubas, both professionally and personally, is exceptional.There was a learning process throughout the first year I was there [2015] which people seemed to think was a problem. I didn’t.“I knew what I thought was right for Kyle’s growth and what he should do. And he’s done that in the past couple of years. The working relationship could not have been any better with him as far as communication, as far as talking every day on the things you have to talk about.”"
With such a great friendship, maybe Dubas could work out a deal to help improve Toronto’s defense-core.
Toronto Acquires Ryan Pulock From Long Island
The trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Ryan Pulock (RFA)
- New York Islanders acquire: Travis Dermott (RFA), 2020 2nd Round Pick
In this hypothetical trade, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Islanders would be swapping defensemen that are about to become Restricted Free Agents.
If you’re strictly comparing stats, Pulock is the better defenseman but he’s also two years older than Dermott. A defenseman needs time to grow and mature, so Dermott will get better with age, however Pulock seems like a better fit in Toronto, now.
So why would the Islanders make this move if they’re getting the lesser d-man? Pulock is going to get a nice raise from his $2 million contract and it wouldn’t be surprising if he made double what he’s currently making. Dermott on the other hand, is most likely looking at a contract around $2 million per season, so he’ll be much cheaper than Pulock.
The Leafs can afford to spend their money on Pulock because he’s a right-handed defenseman, who can contribute offensively and defensively. At 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, he averaged 22:24 of ice-time and 0.51 points per game this season.
The Islanders have a few million in cap-space but that’s going to change once the team re-signs Mathew Barzal this off-season. The 23-year-old is a superstar in the making and a huge piece of the Islanders’ offense, so they’ll need to re-sign him to whatever he asks for.
The Islanders need to save as much money as they can to re-sign Barzal, so trading Pulock to Toronto for Dermott would really help them out. Although they’d be losing the better defenseman, New York plays great structured defense under Barry Trotz, so they can put anyone in there and they’ll look good.
Hopefully Lamoriello and Dubas can work something out because Pulock would be a great fit on the Leafs blue-line.