3 Defensemen the Toronto Maple Leafs Could Trade For
By Joseph Zita
2. Jamie Oleksiak – 28 years old – D
2020-21 stats – 32 GP – 3 G – 5 A – 8 PTS – 51.5 CF%
Career stats – 345 GP – 21 G – 45 A – 66 PTS – 50.5 CF%
Jamie Oleksiak is a very intriguing name to me simply because this man is a giant on skates e and he also plays with a physical presence too and I know that will make some Leaf fans very excited to hear.
Oleksiak, just like Hjalmarsson, is having a good year defensively for his team, the Dallas Stars. Although, he’s more on the cheaper side of things when it comes to defensemen compared to guys like Mattias Ekholm, David Savard, and even Niklas Hjalmarsson, as he’s currently in the last year of a three-year deal carrying an AAV of $2.137M.
Jamie Oleksiak isn’t a guy that will put points up on the backend either, he’s more reliable for his defensive game rather than his offensive game. This season on a Dallas team that is known for being well structured defensively, per Evolving-Hockey, he ranks 14th on the team with a 1.96 GA/60 (goals against per 60 minutes), ranks 13th with a 1.80 xGA/60 (expected goals against per 60 minutes), and ranks 17th with a 27.26 SA/60 (shots against per 60 minutes).
Yes, he may not rank in the top 10 of those three analytical categories on the Dallas Stars, but like I said the Stars are a well-structured defensive team and his numbers clearly tell you that he doesn’t need to rank inside the top 10 on Dallas to have good numbers defensively.
Acquiring a guy like Oleksiak, would give the Toronto Maple Leafs more of what they are getting from Bogosian, something that can’t hurt come playoff time.
The reason for acquiring a guy like Hjalmarsson, Oleksiak, or even the next guy on this list, is simply because of the fear of injuries and just improving the back end even more. If a top-four guy like Jake Muzzin or Justin Holl goes down with an injury, I don’t think anyone is comfortable with Dermott or Bogosian sliding into the top-four and then having a guy like Marincin slide into the lineup on the bottom pair. (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)