Maple Leafs Pull Off Pre-Expansion Robbery with Jared McCann Trade

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a trade ahead of the NHL’s expansion draft roster freeze.

The Toronto Maple Leafs – amid a flurry of NHL trades today – have acquired Jared McCann from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Filip Hallander and a 7th round pick.

In McCann the Leafs acquire a better and cheaper version of Alex Kerfoot, for a prospect and a pick.

This is the second summer in a row in which the Leafs have absolutely demolished the Penguins in a  trade (last year they sent an under-achieving Kasperi Kapanen to the Penguins for a first and a top prospect named Filip Hallander).

Considering that McCann  is superior to Kapanen (shooting percentage bender aside), then these two trades are just absolutely brilliant when combined.  Kyle Dubas can’t get his superstars to perform in the playoffs, but he is absolutely a genius when it comes to trades.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Jared McCann

McCann is 24, and was drafted 24th overall by Vancouver in the same draft that the Leafs took William Nylander 8th overall.  Funny enough, McCann was taken two picks after Kasperi Kapanen.

In Jared McCann the Leafs get a third line centre who is an elite defender.  McCann can also score, and posted an impressive 2.41 points per 60 this season.  Although those are first line numbers, don’t get too excited, as his scoring was buoyed by what is probably an unsustainable on-ice shooting percentage. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

Still, any offense you get from a player like this is a bonus.  The defense is elite and that’s what counts when you already have the most dangerous offensive team in hockey.

By going from Kerfoot to McCann (assuming that Kerfoot is gone after this) the Leafs save $500 K in cap space, while getting a player who is one year younger, and signed for one year less, and probably has a bit more upside. (Cap info capfriendly.com).

The cost is probably fine since the team gets better now and while Hallander is a nice prospect, he is also unlikely to help the team in the immediate future.   The draft pick is significant only in the fact that the Leafs don’t have to many of them in the next couple drafts, but really, it’s a 7th so who cares?

All in all this is a trade that helps the Toronto Maple Leafs on the ice and with the salary cap, so I would consider it a big win.  As for expansion, this probably means the Leafs will expose both Dermott and Holl and protect only three defenseman while taking the extra forward slots.  However, a deal could be made with Seattle, we’ll just have to wait and see.

A good, possibly great move by Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs.