The Toronto Maple Leafs may make a trade soon.
As we sit right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs have seven NHL defenseman and could use some salary-cap flexibility.
This was a huge year for Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin’s development.
We all expected that Sandin would step in as a bottom-pair defenseman, but we weren’t sure about Liljegren. However, through the first month of the season, he looks like a legitimate NHL defenseman.
Liljegren, who’s a 22-year-old defenseman and former first-round pick seemed to be on his last straw with the organization and many fans were hesitant that he could ever crack the big-club. Despite the adversity, the team’s continued to believe in him and that belief has paid off, as he’s clearly an NHL defenseman.
Since Sandin and Liljegren are everyday defenseman now, it creates an issue on the back-end. Although it’s a good problem to have, the Leafs have too many NHL defenseman on the roster.
Personally, I’d love for them to keep everyone, in case of injuries, but this team is too tight to the salary cap and needs flexibility. Whether it’s Justin Holl, Travis Dermott, or a forward, someone needs to get traded before Ilya Mikheyev comes back from injury.
Not only that, but I’m sure Justin Holl doesn’t want to get healthy scratched again like he did over 70 times a few years ago, so if he’s not going to play, he may request a trade to get some playing time elsewhere.
Let’s take a look at a few potential trades as the Toronto Maple Leafs will more than likely be making a deal very soon.