Sitting atop the North Division standings, never before in the Matthews-Marner-Nylander era has a path to the Final Four been so clear for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
For this season alone, there is no Boston Bruins, no Tampa Bay Lightning. No Goliath waiting in the wings for a first-round playoff series destined to go seven games. The Toronto Maple Leafs path to the semi-finals is a lot easier than it’s been in recent years.
It is no secret Kyle Dubas and Co. are aware of the tremendous opportunity in front of them. And in recognizing this, Toronto has been one of the most active teams on the trade market over the past few weeks, looking for any potential roster upgrades.
A lot of the heavy lifting was done in the offseason to reshape the battered blueline that was not up to the standard of a Cup contender. Cap casualties Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson were shipped out of town to accommodate TJ Brodie’s $5 million AAV. Bargain bin free agents were brought in to fill out the remaining forward positions, where the contributions of Joe Thornton ($700,000), Wayne Simmonds ($1.5 million), and Jason Spezza ($700,000) cannot be overlooked.
But even so, the revolving door of auditions alongside John Tavares and William Nylander has brought up some concerns of whether the current state of the Toronto Maple Leafs forward group is strong enough to compete for a Stanley Cup.
Over the past few games, Alex Galchenyuk has dominated in that role, helping the trio register 67 percent of the shot attempts, 76 percent of the expected goals, 79 percent of the scoring chances, and 87 percent of the high-danger chances (stats; Natural Stat Trick).
But in a season in which all the Toronto Maple Leafs have to do to be four wins away from a chance at hoisting the Stanley Cup is to be the best team in Canada, adding an impact forward seems like an opportunity management cannot pass up. Add in the fact the deadline is on track to be quieter than usual and Dubas is in a real enviable position.
And in dissecting the several options the Toronto Maple Leafs could look at, the most interesting of the bunch is a former Hart Trophy winner who could be had for pennies on the dollar. In a buyer’s market like this one, arguably no player stands out above the rest quite like Taylor Hall.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of potentially trading for the disgruntled Buffalo Sabre.