The NHL trade deadline is tomorrow, and we are expecting the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a move anytime.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a contender, and they have a roster with no obvious weaknesses, which makes them an unpredictable team at this year’s deadline. Established players like Rickard Rakell, Taylor Hall and Mikael Granlund have long been available, but may not fit in under the cap. In Part One of this Four Trades in Four Days series, we suggested Max Domi, and Part Two proposed that Anthony Duclair be acquired.
The Leafs find themselves in a position that they haven’t been in in quite some time, atop their division and aggressively looking to improve at the trade deadline. Yes, the Leafs have been buyers at the deadline before, but not in this manner. If ever there was a year for Dubas to swing for the fences, with the division alignment the way it is and the composition of the roster, it’s this year.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Jaden Schwartz
The St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019 with large parts of the same roster they have this year. However, the Blues of 2021 are in freefall. As of Friday April 9th the Blues are 3-6-1 in their last 10, have slid straight past the Arizona Coyotes and are trying their hardest to plummet to the lowly San Jose Sharks, LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks of the West.
Talk at the deadline around the Blues has mostly been centred on Mike Hoffman, their one-year $4 million man yet Kyle Dubas should be attracted to different forward: left winger Jaden Schwartz.
If Dubas wants to make a splash Schwartz is the man to do it. The Canadian winger is 28-years-old and a UFA at the end of the year with a cap hit of $5.3 million. Schwartz has had a difficult season, dressing for just 24 games, racking up just 12 points.
This is an outlier however. Schwartz has never been a league leader in points but he is a reliable scorer with a career shooting percentage of 12.2%. Schwartz is also particularly effective on the powerplay, using his playmaking ability to find the open man, something the Leafs PP could do with dearly.
Where Schwartz separates himself further is his ability to deliver in the playoffs, and on a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs whose Top 6 has had limited exposure to the playoffs, he could prove invaluable. In the Blues Cup run in 2019 Schwartz was instrumental, shooting at 19.05% and racking up 20 points in 26 games while contributing in the faceoff dot, winning 58.82% of his draws. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
It would require a fair amount to pry Schwartz out of St Louis with Alexander Kerfoot certain to go the other way. There is a chance the Leafs and Dubas try to extend the deal to include more on both ends in which case this is the kind of deal that the Leafs would have to throw Timothy Liligren into the mix.
Once again this kind of deal could require the San Jose Sharks to join in with their open cap space a possible way for the Toronto Maple Leafs to make themselves cap compliant. He would be a massive addition to the Maple Leafs and instantly give them the edge on almost any team in the league.
If Dubas is going to swing big then there are few better proven playoff commodities available at a reasonable price that Jaden Schwartz. It’s time for Dubas to make the move that changes the Toronto Maple Leafs from contenders to near favourites.