Grading Every Toronto Maple Leafs Offseason Move
By Reuben Gasee
"DALLAS, TX – OCTOBER 09: (L-R) Morgan Rielly #44, of the Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)"
The Maple Leafs have undergone a transformative offseason
The Toronto Maple Leafs kicked off their off-season by trading Kasperi Kapanen in a lopsided (in their favor) deal, and things just seemed to get better from their.
The Leafs ignored critics and kept their core in tact, deftly maneuvering around the salary cap and adding an interesting mix of players that addressed their weaknesses and improved their team.
In total, Dubas and the front office made 15 moves with two of those being trades. While another move is always possible, the team seems set heading into the start of the upcoming season.
Here, I’ll grade each move that the Leafs have made that impacts the team at the NHL level.
(Draft picks made by the Leafs in the 2020 draft have been exempted from this article as none of the draftees are expected to play in the NHL next season).
All stats via hockeyreference.com
Kapanen Trade
On August 25th, the Leafs traded Kasperi Kapanen back to where they originally got him from, the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Pontus Aberg and Jesper Lindgren for Evan Rodriguez, Filip Hallander, David Warsofsky and a first round pick (15th overall).
That first round pick ended up being Rodion Amirov who they selected out of Russia. It also got the Leafs back into the first round after they traded away their original pick to the Carolina Hurricanes to get Patrick Marleau’s contract off their hands.
While they didn’t get anyone back that could contribute at the highest level right away, it saved the Leafs $3.2 million a season over the next two years. Also, they got two prospects in Amirov and Hallander in which the latter is seen as a legitimate prospect who could be a solid player at the highest level.