The Toronto Maple Leafs are the class of the Canadian Division.
As the only contender in this year’s All-Canadian Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a better chance of putting up the highest points-percentage of all-time than they do of missing the playoffs, but we still need to play the games.
One thing that is going to help the Leafs pad their already good record will be nine games against the Ottawa Senators.
Now, in a year or two, that might not be the best thing, but the Senators, despite having some really nice prospects, are still going to be an absolutely awful hockey team, and the trade they made yesterday won’t help.
The Leafs vs Senators
The Ottawa Senators have a terrible owner and a terrible team. They have some nice prospects, but they don’t yet have the truly elite #1 generational player you’d like to have after being so bad for so long.
This year, the Senators have add Matt Murray, Alex Galchenyuk and now, Derek Stepan, in a bid to, I guess, be somewhat competitive.
Unfortunately, it’s misguided, and the smart thing to do would be to conserve draft picks and save money. It’s the Senators we are talking about though, so “smart thing to do” is a foreign concept.
On the surface, yesterday’s acquisition of Derek Stepan for a second round pick is just the kind of thing you expect from this sadly failing franchise – an overpayment for a terrible player that won’t help their team at all. On closer inspection, however, it’s not actually that bad.
The thing is, and I hate to say it, but it’s a pretty smart move. It’s not going to help them when they play the Toronto Maple Leafs nine times, but it’s smart nevertheless.
The majority of Stepan’s ridiculous salary was in the form of signing bonus, so he only actually costs the Senators $2 million in real money. You hate to see a rebuilding team waste a draft pick, but it’s actually not that bad of an idea because the Senators will likely give Stepan more ice time and better wingers than he’s used to, and by the time the trade deadline rolls around they can probably trade him for roughly what they paid to acquire him.
I mean, there’s no guarantee, but it’s a reasonable risk. Even if they get a third when they trade him in three months, it might be worth the slight downgrade just to show the rookies how a pro like Stepan conducts himself.
So overall, I like the move, but the Senators will still be dressing Nikita Zaitsev, Eric Gudbranson, Josh Brown and Mike Rielly in what is a worse blueline than the Toronto Marlies have.
And they will be lucky to go 2 and 7 vs the Toronto Maple Leafs.