The Toronto Maple Leafs rumour season is in full swing.
Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs are still under a month into their newest season, it’s a short season so the trade deadline is already looming, and even more-so because any trade with an American team will require incoming players to miss two weeks of games.
Therefore, teams may look to get a jump on the action and make moves earlier than anticipated. The Leafs, through Elliotte Friedman, are said to be looking at adding a winger who can play in their top six.
But the Leafs have so many forward options that this means that they must believe they can clear some cap space and make a significant addition.
Go Big or Go Home
If you’re trying to come up with the name of a mystery winger Friedman has in mind, odds are you’re looking at the team’s cap space and trying to find bargain bin options that might fit the bill.
But this doesn’t actually make any sense. The Leafs don’t need to add Bobby Ryan when they have Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Jimmy Vesey and Nick Robertson to choose from (plus several more options).
Statistically, there is almost no difference between any non-elite players in the NHL. If you aren’t going to get someone with a higher ceiling, you might as well stick with Jimmy Vesey.
This leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs with only three options: create cap space and make a significant add, trade for someone who is either underpaid, or on an entry-level-deal, or trade for a UFA who, by the time he’s acquired, has most of his cap hit off the books.
The first option would require Alex Kerfoot and Ilya Mikheyev to be moved. This leaves a third line with Simmonds-Thornton and a choice of Vesey, Barabanov and Engvall, while the fourth line could be Boyd-Spezza-Simmonds.
As much as I’m a fan of both Kerfoot and Mikheyev, this is obviously the best option – make use of your depth, and combine their salary into a higher end player.
Option two is harder because how many ELC players make a big impact and would actually be available? and option three is a dud, as no one who would be an impact player on this list plays on a team that has given up.
The combined cap hit of Kerfoot and Mikheyev is over $5 million and you would think both players would be relatively easy to move if necessary. I’m not saying it’s going to happen or even that it’s realistic. Just that if you’re going to upgrade a team this deep, you can only do it by adding an elite player, and that this is the only way that is happening.
If the Leafs clear the space, they’ve got whatever assets those guys bring back, plus they’ve got Rasmus Sandin, Rodion Amirov, Timothy Liljegren, Travis Dermott and next year’s first rounder. They have a ton of inventory to make a trade, the cap space is the issue. But if they aren’t willing to trade Kerfoot and Mikheyev, their options for upgrades are extremely limited.