The Top 5 Players the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade For
By James Tanner
Scott Mayfield
A 29 year-old right shooting defenseman who plays for the New York Islanders, Scott Mayfield is a defensive defenseman who is actually good at playing defense. (As opposed to just getting hemmed in his own zone, Roman Polak style).
He can move the puck pretty well, as seen by his decent point totals that are pretty much all 5v5 scoring (between 12 and 20 points, roughly, but only once ever coming anywhere close to 82 games in a single year).
This is important because the Leafs are a puck-moving team and likely are not interested in boat-anchor types.
During last year’s shortened season, Mayfield was better than 87% of NHL defenseman at actual defense. Even granting that that is padded from playing on the Islanders ,it’s still impressive.
Mayfield would be cheap and could work as both a depth option or even potentially as an upgrade over Justin Holl.
He makes $1.4 million, and while he wouldn’t exactly be a blockbuster addition, he would help the team for sure. (All cap info from capfriendly.com).