Toronto Maple Leafs Biggest Deadline Addition Is Not Who You Think

The talk of the town for the past month has been about a Toronto Maple Leafs trade, but have they already made that addition?

We’ve continued to speculate on who the Toronto Maple Leafs would be interested in acquiring and many names have came up. Whether it’s Nick Foligno, Scott Laughton, Jonathan Bernier, etc., the team has typically been tied to a left-winger, bottom-six centre, depth defenseman or back-up goaltender.

Although the Leafs are playing their best hockey in the past 20 years and seem like the best team in the North Division, everything has been pointing to an acquisition. Every time general manager Kyle Dubas has been asked about what he’d give up to acquire a legitimate player, he’s said that top prospects and draft picks are on the table. I mean, what else is he going to say?

It would be a pretty dumb strategy to say that no prospects, draft picks or roster players are in-play, because how else are you going to get a legitimate top-six player or NHL caliber defenseman? In order to make an impact move, they’d have to be open to trading a high-end prospect or draft pick, or the trade wouldn’t be able to happen.

However, this is where things get interesting.

The team has continued to talk about a trade for the past six weeks and it felt like the team was going to make a big move weeks ago. But, nothing happened.  Everyone kept refreshing Twitter to see what was going to happen, but nothing did. It’s like waiting for your favorite artist to drop their next album and it continues to get delayed.

If you’re a fan of Kayne West, you know what I’m talking about.

Toronto Maple Leafs Biggest Addition Could Be an Internal One

If the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t make a huge move at the deadline this year, it’s not the end of the world. This is clearly their best chance to win a Stanley Cup in year’s, but their core-four is still young enough to give them another four-year window to win.

Obviously, a legit top-six left-winger or third-line centre would be great, but you never know what’s going to happen when you add a new player mid-season. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it falls flat. It really depends on the player and the situation, but it’s a lot harder to create chemistry, when ‘X Player’ is only going to be able to play 10-12 games before the playoffs start.

So instead of burning high-prospects and draft picks in a trade, maybe the team already has the additions they’re looking for, in-house?

In 12 games with the Toronto Marlies, Nick Robertson has three goals and 10 points. He’s gone through some injury problems, but when he’s been healthy, he’s played great in his first year as a professional. The team is looking for a left-winger, so instead of trading for one, maybe they promote Robertson?

He played in four NHL playoff games last season, so it wouldn’t be a brand-new situation for him. The team has done this in the past with Kasperi Kapanen, when he was in-between the Marlies and Leafs, so Robertson could be that extra scoring help they’ve been looking for beside John Tavares and William Nylander.

If the team wanted to add some physicality as well, they could look to Scott Sabourin, who has 22 PIM’s in four games with the Marlies this year. He’d be your classic six-minutes per night type of guy on the fourth-line who can lay the body and bring an energy that the team is somewhat lacking.

Last but not least, Rasmus Sandin is back from injury and should be playing a ton of minutes with the Marlies between now and the Toronto Maple Leafs playoffs run. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said this in regards to Sandin potentially joining the Leafs this year (via: torontostar.com):

"“We’ll give him some time to get going with the Marlies and I suspect there will be an opportunity for him to get in with us.”"

Instead of trading these youngsters, it may make more sense to throw them in the fire around playoff time and see how they perform. They’re clearly on their way to becoming everyday NHLers, so instead of trying out a rental player, the Leafs may have already found their additions.

The NHL Trade Deadline is Monday, April 12 at 3:00PM, so a lot can happen between now and then, but the Toronto Maple Leafs may already have their top-six left-winger and bottom-six defenseman, without realizing it.