A Likely Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Partner: New York Islanders
Don’t be shocked if the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders do business before the NHL Trade Deadline.
Prior to being named general manager (GM) of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas learned everything from his mentor Lou Lamoriello, who’s now in charge of the New York Islanders.
For three seasons, Dubas was the Assistant GM to Lamoriello and soaked up as much knowledge as possible. That mentorship goes a long way in life and could help the Leafs at the Trade Deadline.
Lamoriello has always been known as a tough negotiator, but since his Islanders team is going to miss the playoffs this year, he could be inclined to trade with Dubas, instead of any other team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t going to be trading for the Islanders high-end skill, but instead will be focused on their pending UFA’s. Toronto’s biggest weakness is their depth and physicality, which is something the Islanders could help them with.
When it comes to the players we’ll be talking about, it shouldn’t take a “Godfather” package to make a deal.
Instead, it will probably be a sixth or seventh-round draft pick and potentially a C-level prospect who has some upside. The Leafs are in win-now mode anyway so trading any of those assets shouldn’t be a big deal, if it means bolstering their roster.
As we look forward to the NHL Trade Deadline, here are three New York Islanders players that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be targeting.
No. 1: Cal Clutterbuck
For the past few years, Clutterbuck has been apart of the best fourth-line in hockey and his presence has been showed in the playoffs.
When you think of Clutterbuck’s game, you think of someone who’s relentless and an energizer-bunny when he’s on the ice. He’s not afraid to hit anyone and everyone and will continue to run you through the boards if you’re near the puck.
He’s one of those players that wears you down throughout a playoff series and he was a reason why the Islanders made it to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.
The one issue with Clutterbuck is that he has a $3.5M contract. That’s going to be very hard for the Leafs to absorb, unless the Islanders retained 50 percent of the deal.
As it stands right now, the Islanders are pretty tight to the salary-cap, so who knows if they could do that, but if the money can be sorted out, Clutterbuck is a player that every Leafs fan would love.
Clutterbuck is typically in the top-10 in NHL hits every season, so if he were traded to Toronto, Leafs fans would more than likely notice his impact on his very first shift.
No. 2: Zdeno Chara
The 44-year-old giant is exactly what Toronto needs.
For the past decade, if not longer, the Leafs haven’t had a legit number-one defenseman that intimidates the other team. You could argue that Morgan Rielly is a number-one defenseman, but the opposition is never worried about him running you through the boards.
Chara is someone that will always intimidate the opposition. Whether he’s 25-years-old or 55-years-old, when he’s on the ice, the other team notices.
He’s definitely lost a step or two over the past few years, but he was never a fast player to begin with. Also, if he joined Toronto, he wouldn’t be asked to play 25 minutes per night, but instead would be asked to play third-pairing minutes and be a leader on and off the ice.
In a critical Game 7, you feel comfortable putting Chara over the boards, instead of Justin Holl, Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin or Travis Dermott.
In the biggest moment, Chara can clear the front of the net calmly and that’s worth every penny.
No. 3: Andy Greene
With over 1000 regular season games and 90 playoff games, Greene is a wise defenseman that could really help the Toronto Maple Leafs in crunch-time.
With so much experience, Greene has played with a ton of players over the years and it feels like every interview speaks highly of him. Here’s a quote from his former teammate Cory Schneider, in light of his 1000th game:
“Andy’s been one of the most underrated and underappreciated defensemen in the league. Especially when we were in New Jersey together. Always smart, always knows where to be. Reads the game so well, he thinks the game like a goalie. He’s a step ahead, anticipates and then he’s got great instincts in terms of stick and positioning and just able to get a piece of pucks or deny a pass or a play. That’s the type of game that translates well into your older age, to put it kindly with him, so he’s relied on a lot of those traits that made him a good defender for a long time and still make him effective today. I always feel comfortable with Andy on the ice., said, Cory Schneider (via: Sasha Kandrach, newyorkislanders.com)
Greene is definitely underrated, as Schneider alludes to.
If you were to poll 100 hockey fans, I bet you (at the most) only a dozen of them would remember that Greene was the captain of the New Jersey Devils from 2015-2020.
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The left-shot defenseman would be best suited in the team’s bottom-pair, but similar to Chara, he’d be someone the team could rely on in big moments. As a cool, calm and collective defenseman, Greene is someone Toronto should look to trade for to add depth to their defensive-group.