The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be making some changes this summer.
What changes the Toronto Maple Leafs make, and whether those changes will come in the form of trades, signings or promotions is anyone’s best guess.
One thing I think the Leafs should to however, is pursue defenseman Vince Dunn of the St. Louis Blues, who may become available due to the expansion draft.
The Blues are obviously going to trade Dunn rather than lose him for nothing, and the team that trades for him will be getting a potential top pairing star player at a discount price.
Enter the Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs and Vince Dunn
The Blues can protect up to four defensemen, and even if they do, one of those is unlikely to be Vince Dunn. This is because they have three defensemen with no-trade clauses (Faulk, Scandella and Torey Krug. Additionally, they most likely want to protect Colton Parayko.
Therefore, Vince Dunn should be available.
Dunn was making just $1.8 against the cap and now he is a restricted free-agent who will be looking for a massive raise.
Dunn is 24 years-old and is a former second round pick. He provides excellent puck moving skills and elite defense, along the lines of T. J Brodie.
He’s not the biggest guy at 6′ 203, but he’s an excellent player. This year he played in 43 and picked up 20 points, which is decent production (40 points is good for a dman in a full year).
Dunn had 12 goals and 35 points as a rookie, so we know he’s got an offensive game, but where he shines is defensively. This year he was better than 90% of NHL defenseman at defense, according to his @jfresh player card.
Vince Dunn, signed 1x$1.8M by STL, might be the biggest "analytical darling" defenceman in the NHL. His playdriving results are exceptional but for whatever reason STL plays him in extremely limited minutes. pic.twitter.com/FnxdcPjsvd
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 31, 2020
The chart above shows his three years before this season and the aforementioned 90% defensive ranking.
This is a player that should and almost certainly does interest the Toronto Maple Leafs, but one thing we should note is that he is a left handed shot. The Leafs already have Brodie on the right side, and he shoots left, but it seems to be something that not every player is comfortable doing.
The Leafs have Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie, Dermott and Sandin and all five of them are left shots. Therefore, I’m not sure who they would move or get to switch size in order to accommodate adding Dunn, but they should figure it out because defenseman this good at this age rarely become available.