3 Players the Toronto Maple Leafs should Trade For
It isn’t news to anyone now that the Toronto Maple Leafs are interested in adding to the team come the trade deadline.
Should the Toronto Maple Leafs add, however, acquiring players from Canadian teams due to the quarantine rules may be the route to go instead of waiting the two-week period after acquiring a player from the United States.
Through their first 21 games of the 2020-21 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs currently sit first in the North Division and first in the league with a 15-4-2 record (32 points) and have overall looked good thus far.
Let’s take a look and see some options from Canadian teams that the Leafs may be interested in.
3. Josh Leivo – 27 years old – LW
2020-21 stats – 17 GP – 0 G – 2 A – 2 PTS – 49.6 CF%
Career stats – 186 GP – 31 G – 36 A – 67 PTS – 52.5 CF%
Yes, this is the same Josh Leivo that used to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Actually, let me rephrase that, this is the same Josh Leivo that used to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs that never got an opportunity to crack the lineup because of someone in particular. Anyways, a Toronto and Josh Leivo reunion wouldn’t be that bad of an idea, especially as a very good depth option.
Although Leivo hasn’t had the ideal start to his season for the Calgary Flames as he currently has only two points in 17 games, he proved to everyone that he is capable of producing for your team, and that’s what he did when he got traded to Vancouver during the 2018-19 season. He put up a very respectable 18 points in 49 games in his first year there and then followed it up with 19 points in 36 games last season as a bottom-six player.
Leivo doesn’t play a ton of minutes, but when he is on the ice he is pretty effective as he can provide some offence and is pretty responsible defensively as well. Looking at his advanced analytics over the years while playing on Toronto, Vancouver, and now Calgary, they are pretty good for someone who is looked at as a bottom-six player.
Looking at this year alone on a Flames team that it seems that he’s played well but isn’t getting a lot of pucks to go into the net. He currently ranks 2nd on the team with a 2.84 xGF/60 and ranks 5th with a pretty good 2.08 xGA/60 but it seems like he just can’t score or even show up on the assist side of things.
Leivo is currently on a one-year deal that’s worth a very low $875K and would be very easy to trade for if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs and would make as a very, very good depth option for them to consider, especially given the current injuries and some players not performing great as of late. (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
2. Nick Paul – 25 years old – C/LW
2020-21 stats – 21 GP – 3 G – 5 A – 8 PTS – 52.9 CF%
Career stats – 133 GP – 16 G – 20 A – 36 PTS – 48.9 CF%
Although there may be better options on American teams for the Toronto Maple Leafs to go out and acquire someone before or even at the trade deadline this year, there are still some relatively good options for them to at least think about if they want to stick to the Canadian teams and don’t want to go through the quarantine period, and Nick Paul is one of them.
Nick Paul is kind of an intriguing player to me because he’s a guy who has always been in and out of the Ottawa Senators lineup throughout the years he’s been there and just recently has found a spot on that team and been helping that very young team out.
I wouldn’t expect Paul to become a top-six player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but if they shift a guy like Alex Kerfoot to the second-line permanently and keep Zach Hyman on that third-line to act as a shutdown line, then adding Nick Paul to that third-line isn’t such a bad idea.
He isn’t an expensive player to try and trade for as he is currently on the first year of a two-year contract that has an AAV of $1.35M, the only thing I wonder is if Ottawa sees Paul as part of their future alongside their other young guys like Tkachuk, Batherson, Stutzle, etc. If not then I think acquiring a guy like him would add good depth to a team that is currently testing their depth as of right now due to multiple injuries across the lineup.
Paul has only played in 132 career games across a six-year span and hasn’t really been known as a guy that will put up a ton of points every year, however, he is still someone who plays a good defensive game and isn’t looked at as a liability whenever he is on the ice. If the Toronto Maple Leafs can acquire him for a player/prospect and a pick, I think that would be fair.
1. Tanner Pearson – 28 years old – LW
2020-21 stats – 23 GP – 5 G – 4 A – 9 PTS – 50.3 CF%
Career stats – 480 GP – 113 G – 111 A – 224 PTS – 52.7 CF%
Tanner Pearson is a player that I think would be a great fit on this Toronto Maple Leafs team for multiple reasons.. The Canucks are pretty much out of the playoff picture already, and I believe he’d be a perfect fit for the Leafs.
Pearson is a player that can easily slot into a teams’ top-six and can either play on the first line or the second line, depending on what the coach wants obviously. He brings a lot to his game when he plays, which includes his size, scoring, and the ability to go into the corners and isn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas on the ice, kind of like a Zach Hyman in that sense.
His advanced analytics this year on the Vancouver Canucks aren’t bad but they aren’t amazing either as he is on a Canucks team that has been struggling all year to keep the puck out of their net. He currently ranks 12th on the team with a 2.60 xGF/60 and ranks 9th with a 2.78 xGA/60, again, Vancouver has been struggling all year defensively so his numbers have taken a slight dive compared to recent seasons.
Looking at his actual numbers on the scoresheet, he’s been a player who has had multiple 40 point seasons throughout his career and he also won the 2014 Stanley Cup in his rookie season with the Los Angeles Kings where he was actually a key piece to the cup run scoring 12 points in 24 games, so there is another body in the locker room that knows what it takes to win it all and can be an extra voice as well.
Tanner Pearson’s also on the last year of his four-year deal carrying an AAV of $3.75M and that is pretty affordable in my opinion for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Next. Pros and Cons of the Canadian Division. dark
If Vancouver can retain some salary in the trade and then Toronto ships a roster player along with a prospect and maybe a pick to them, maybe it could get done. The only thing that is unknown right now is if Vancouver will make Pearson available for trade or not, but we will probably know sooner rather than later if they start racking up the wins, or start losing more games.