Top 3 Defensemen the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade For
By Mike Jack
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the NHL’s best teams and will be looking to upgrade their roster at the trade deadline.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been without Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl lately, and if it wasn’t apparent before, it’s clear now that they could use an upgrade on their blue-line.
They were without Jake Muzzin against the New York teams, who may be their best defensive defenseman, but even with Muzzin in the line-up, the Leafs look like they need some help on the back end. Muzzin has also gone down during two consecutive playoffs and no one on the Toronto Maple Leafs was able to step up and fill his role.
The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest need is another Jake Muzzin or someone better.
Top 3 Defensemen the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Target for Trade
When looking for potential trade targets for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I looked for a few different criteria. What I think the Leafs need the most is a big strong aggressive defenseman who can clear the front of the net and block shots.
The Toronto Maple Leafs should also target a defenseman that doesn’t give the puck away easily as Toronto actually has the third most 5-on-5 giveaways in the NHL this season behind only the Montreal Canadiens and the Anaheim Ducks.
I’m also looking mainly at upcoming unrestricted free agents on non-playoff teams since those will be the players that will be the easiest and cheapest to acquire by the Toronto Maple Leafs. They don’t have a lot of cap room to commit to additional players for next season especially if they re-sign Jack Campbell.
Here are the top 3 defensemen the Toronto Maple Leafs should target for trade: