Calvin de Haan / Connor Murphy
The former first round pick of the New York Islanders, Calvin de Haan now plays on a surprisingly successful Chicago Blackhawks team. Still, despite their success so far this year, you’d have to think they would be interested in getting some assets for the future.
With one year left on a $4.5 deal, de Haan might be an attractive player to some team, but that team shouldn’t be the Toronto Maple Leafs.
de Haan is decent – a very average second pairing player. But he’s no improvement on anyone the Leafs have on their left side, so he’s pretty much a nonstarter who I only included because I’ve heard his name mentioned a few times as an option.
Frankly, if I was going to do a deal with the Blackhawks, I’d be way more interested in Connor Murphy. Murphy is younger by two years, he’s cheaper and still signed through next year. He’s always way bigger, shoots right, and is a massive, massive human.
Murphy would be a great replacement for Bogosian – bringing almost everything you like about him, only Murphy is actually good.
I would rank Connor Murphy as the second best option after Savard, slightly ahead of Oleskiak.