The Toronto Maple Leafs were set to lose a player tonight, but that player has been revealed early.
According to TSN Insider Darren Dreger, the Seattle Kraken will take Jared McCann from the Toronto Maple Leafs roster.
For whatever reason, the NHL’s newest expansion team seams to have leaked out their entire draft early, which is fine by mine because I was never going to watch a live Expansion Draft, but I am guessing the NHL is probably not that psyched about it.
In addition to the Leafs losing McCann, Seattle has also passed on Carey Price (because they are not idiots) and will supposedly ice a blue-line featuring Vince Dunn, Adam Larson and Marc Giordano. Not too shabby.
Toronto Maple Leafs and the Expansion Draft
The Leafs get to keep (or trade) Alex Kerfoot, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl all for the cost of a seventh round pick and Filip Hallander, a prospect who is likely to top out as a 3rd liner, if he makes the NHL at all.
This is a very, very good outcome for the Leafs when you consider the rumour that Seattle was asking for multiple first rounders to pass on a player of a team’s choice. In fact, it’s a cheap price to pay to keep any of the Leafs three likely expansion players.
Toronto didn’t want to lose Holl, so they acquire McCann and roll the dice in losing either Kerfoot or McCann. Kraken prefer McCann, so Kerfoot stays with the Leafs.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 21, 2021
Sure, losing McCann is kind of a bummer because he seems like he can be a really good player, but the Leafs obviously either believe that Justin Holl is more valuable, or that what they can get for Justin Holl is more valuable.
It will be easier to judge this move once the Leafs make some subsequent decisions. As it is, it’s hard to be mad about making it through the draft so cheaply.
Jared McCann would have been a nice piece, however. He is younger, cheaper, and signed to less term than Kerfoot. I was really looking forward to him playing for the Leafs. He scored at a first line rate last season while putting up elite defensive numbers. The fact that the Leafs did not value him over Justin Holl is confusing to me, unless they plan on moving Holl.
Moving Holl does make sense because the Leafs have several internal replacements (Liljegren, Sandin, Dermott) and his value should skyrocket now that several teams will have lost their fourth best blue-liners.
In the end, I will just be happy when the roster freeze lifts so we can see what else the Toronto Maple Leafs have up their sleeve this summer. And, who knows, maybe the rumour that the Kraken are taking McCann isn’t even true – we can hope, at least until the official announcement.