The Toronto Maple Leafs were rumored to be interested in P.K Subban this week.
The Toronto Maple Leafs supposedly had “more than lukewarm” interest in the formerly great defenseman earlier this summer.
Personally, I would take this rumour with a grain of salt – mostly because it makes absolutely no sense – but also because of the wording.
Technically, I might have more than lukewarm interest in a variety of things I know for sure I’ll never do. This probably just means that the Leafs would consider it if all the circumstances were right.
Toronto Maple Leafs and PK Subban
What are the right circumstances? The player is nearly free, and the contract is double-retained. Anything else is a non-starter. That would mean New Jersey takes half of Subban’s contract (4.5 million) and sends him to another team, who retains a further 50% before trading to the Leafs, who would be on the hook for $2.25 million.
Now, if all that was going back was a 7th round draft pick, it might be worth considering. But why would anyone retain that much money for no pick? The amount of assets the Toronto Maple Leafs would have to give up in order to get the salary double-retained would have to be way more than PK Subban is currently worth.
And even if all this could happen, where would he play? The Leafs defense is pretty much set. Subban isn’t replacing Rielly, Muzzin or Brodie at this point in his career, and the Leafs probably don’t want to take out the 6’4 220 LBS monster that is Justin Holl and replace him with a much smaller and less physical puck-moving offense-first style-defenseman.
I’m not saying Holl is out there crushing guys every shift, but the Leafs blueline is already pretty tame from a physical perspective and there isn’t the upside in a 32 year old Subban to warrant such a move.
And then there’s the fourth line. Dollar for dollar, few players are bringing more to their third pairing roles than Travis Dermott and I am reasonable sure that Rasmus Sandin is better than the current version of PK Subban.
I am a huge fan of PK. If he was available for free in a depth role, it would be great to bring him to the team. I think he’s an awesome guy and could only make the dressing room a better place. But unless New Jersey wants so desperately to get rid of him that they’d retain half his salary and then pay a third team to take him and retain even more salary, I just don’t see how the Leafs could acquire him in any reasonable fashion.