Toronto Maple Leafs Trade for Kraken Captain Mark Giordano

The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally gotten in on the trade deadline action.

With less than 24 hours to go until the trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs have traded for Mark Giordano.

Mark Giordano has been the captain for the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken, and is a Toronto native. Gio brings experience and stability to a Toronto defense needing such a presence, particularly in front of the net.

We haven’t seen the trade details yet, but  you have to figure the Kraken are retaining half of Giordano’s salary, otherwise I’m not sure how the Leafs make this work with a 6.75 million dollar cap hit.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Mark Giordano

Ryan Leslie of Sportnet was the first to break the news.

I’m not sure where exactly Sheldon Keefe will put Giordano, but pairing him with Brodie seems like a fun option, as the two played together in Calgary.

It’s a move that almost makes too much sense.

If you’re worried about Giordano’s decay in his offensive game, I can ease your fears a bit. Giordano has a bit more to work with in Toronto than he did in Seattle. The first pass on a breakout off of Giordano’s stick should be fun to watch when it could land on Auston Matthews’ or Mitch Marner’s stick.

There’s still some work for Kyle Dubas to do with the roster, but after the Lyubushkin trade, I think Giordano completes the backend for Toronto this season. Giordano is on an expiring contract and is a rental player.

It will be interesting to see how the Leafs set their defensive pairings going forward, and how then even more so when Jake Muzzin is back, assuming he does indeed come back.

Keep an eye on the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don’t think they’re done making trades yet. Looking at the moves Florida, Tampa and Boston have all made, a big splash was all but imminent.

I don’t want Kyle Dubas to make moves as if his job depends on it. I highly doubt he moved any in this deal, but I am highly against trading top prospects for one year rentals like Mark Giordano. If he moved a couple of picks and Dermott for Mark Giordano, I am more than ok with that.

Like I said, keep an eye out. There’s a lot of time left until the deadline. We will have more as details of the trade become available.