Toronto Maple Leafs: Frontrunners for Mattias Ekholm

The Toronto Maple Leafs head into the NHL trade deadline as Stanley Cup Favorites looking to win an NHL championship for the first time in over 50 years.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are well stocked with assets, and although cap space is a difficulty, most experts agree that they can definitely manipulate the cap enough to improve their team.

The Leafs options range from adding bit pieces to give them even more depth,  to superstar ex-Hart Trophy pending UFAs. Complicating matters is the two-weeks any player currently playing in the USA will have to quarantine (and thus sit out) before joining them, the salary cap and the upcoming expansion draft.

What the Leafs do is anyone’s guess, but an interesting conversation was had on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday where Chris Johnston suggested the Leafs might be the frontrunner for Mattias Ekholm.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Mattias Ekholm

Ekholm is signed through next season on a preposterously low $3 million dollar cap-hit, and is an elite #1 defenseman.   He’s going to be very expensive, but adding elite players is really the only way to noticeably improve your team, and Ekholm may very well be the best player available.

I don’t see the value being there with Ekholm if you pay what he’d cost and then use him on your third pairing. The Leafs are stacked at left defense, necessitating a move to the right side.  This then gives the Leafs five left handers in their lineup, and drops Justin Holl to the third pairing.

Assuming Ekholm is the same elite player on the right side, on a new team, with a new partner after sitting out for two weeks is a massive gamble and I just don’t think it makes sense.  Once all those negatives are factored in, just how much better is he going to be than Holl, who has been excellent?

And additionally, you lose out on the only thing Bogosian brings, which is a different dimension than all other Leafs defenders provide.  Improving Bogosian is the easiest thing the Leafs can do, but they should try to do it with someone who provides a similar game style.  Adding Ekholm givers you six puck moving defenseman in the lineup, and he does nothing to help the team’s weak penalty kill.

Ekholm is an elite player, but there’s only so much ice-time and the Leafs are well stocked in the puck-moving offense-based left-handed defenseman department.  The assets used to get him could go to a  place the Leafs are in more need of.

It would be cheaper (in assets, not cap cost) to trade for Josh Manson who is a much worse overall player, but excels defensively and on the PK and who also brings the same thing that keeps Bogosian in the lineup.  If the Leafs want to upgrade the blue-line Manson would be a better choice in my opinion because he’d cost less, is right handed, and helps where the Leafs are weak, as well as bringing that physical dynamic they otherwise only have from Bogosian.

On the flip side, elite players are elite players and the more you have, the better you are.

I believe the Leafs interest in this player may just be a factor of them doing their due diligence and knowing the cost of every player available, because there are just too many reasons for them to not want to do this. At the same time, I’d still be pretty excited if they got him.