The Toronto Maple Leafs keep getting better due to other team’s idiotic moves.
Yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs got better when their division rival, the up-and-coming Ottawa Senators self-sabotaged their rebuild by giving noted terrible hockey analyst Pierre McGuire a voice in their organization.
Then, rival Cup Contender the Edmonton Oilers made arguably the stupidest move of the modern NHL era when they paid a better player and a draft pick for a guy who looks like Duncan Keith but plays like a worse Nikita Zaitsev.
The Oilers will be paying Zach Kassian and Duncan Keith almost the same cap hit as Mitch Marner, so nobody better ever try to tell me Marner is overpaid again. It looks so good on the ridiculous excuse for a management team in Edmonton that a day after their monstrously stupid trade, a better defenseman gets bought out and becomes available for free.
Speaking of which, a third NHL team went bonkers by buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Now, both players were overpaid, but the cap penalties hardly seem worth the savings. Especially since both players are still decent. Not worth their cap hits, but considering the dead cap space this will cost, it’s a dubious move at best.
So three teams in the NHL have made themselves worse, but the question is, should the Toronto Maple Leafs be interested in either player?
Toronto Maple Leafs and Zach Parise and Ryan Suter
Ryan Suter is left handed. That is pretty much all you need to know about his ability to fit with the Leafs. The Leafs already have Rielly, Brodie, Muzzin, Dermott and Sandin. I don’t think they want to run six lefties even if Suter can play the right side.
As for Parise, he’d be a nice fit on a fourth line with Spezza and Simmonds, but I’ve about had it with the veteran geezers blocking ice time from younger and higher ceiling players.
At the right price, both players would make the Leafs better……or at least give them a higher floor. The problem with signing either of them has to do with ceiling – a problem the Leafs must surely recognize they had last season.
By signing a bunch of old guys to bargain deals, you prevent yourself from having any upside. Any random rookie could at least turn into a Tomas Kaberle (a player you didn’t expect to be a star, but somehow pulls it off).
Sure, it almost never happens, but you’ve got to at least try. Coaches will always play veterens over rookies, so if you give Keefe too many old guys, you are blocking your Nick Robertsons and your Filip Hallanders from making the team.
It says here that the Leafs should be content to watch other teams act like morons, but that they should not try to scoop up either Parise or Suter at a discount.