The Toronto Maple Leafs finally get back into action tonight against the New York Rangers, and with the NHL trade deadline on the horizon, there are a ton of news and rumors to get through.
The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest rival, the Montreal Canadiens, languishing near the bottom of the NHL standings, have finally hired their new GM. They already have hired Jeff Gorton to run the team, and now they have added Kent Hughes, the player agent, to be their GM.
I am not overly familiar with Hughes or what he might offer as GM, but I do like that Montreal did not limit their hiring to Francophones only, which shrinks their talent pool and really puts them at a disadvantage.
I just finished watching the All or Nothing Documentary last week, and I still can’t believe the Leafs lost the Canadiens, or how they lost. Still, it’s nice to see the Habs getting on the right track because hockey is way better when both rivals are good.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Other NHL News
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leafs are “not against clearing cap space” for the upcoming trade deadline…which, I guess it’s nice to see it confirmed, but does seem kind of obvious.
The Leafs are clearly one of the NHL’s best teams and one of the most likely teams to win this year’s Stanley Cup, so of course they are going to try to take full advantage of this rare opportunity. To clear cap space, the Leafs could trade Justin Holl and Nick Ritchie and easily afford someone like Damon Severson.
Severson is right handed, signed for next year, and while there is nothing the Leafs can do to match Cale Makar or Victor Hedman, their top 4 would be the best all-round group in the NHL (by about ten miles) if they added Severson to Brodie, Rielly, and Muzzin.
Unless some kind of superstar forward fell in their lap, the Leafs really have no reason to upgrade their forwards. Holl is the obvious spot on the roster to upgrade, and Severson is the obvious choice.
As for John Klingberg, there is no way the Toronto Maple Leafs are interested. He is a good puck mover, but he is a much worse defender than Holl and there is no way the Leafs are going to downgrade their shut-down line when they aren’t in need of the single thing Klingberg would bring – more offense.
Besides, given the same ice-time, Rasmus Sandin might already be the superior player. Two other names often mentioned are Ben Chiarot and Rasmus Ristolainen. I 100% guarantee that the Leafs have no interest in trading for either player, and likely not even on waivers.
Ristolainen is one of the worst players in the NHL, and Chiarot is a stay-at-home defender on par with Ben Hutton, last year’s insurance policy. Chiarot might be of interest in that role, but Montreal can probably find a much stupider team than the Toronto Maple Leafs to pay something for him. Unless the Leafs have completely done a 180 on their player evaluations, I can’t see them having any interest in either of these (terrible) players.
In other NHL news, there is the hilarious Oilers interview (I side with Leon, what a joke) and the interesting Bobby Clarke interview where he criticizes former Flyers GM Ron Hextall for not taking Cale Makar.
Good times! Here is hoping the Leafs continue their impressive 7-2-1 run tonight, which is impressive. More impressive, however, is that they are 18-2 in the last 20 games Mitch Marner has played.