P.K. Subban Could Still Make Sense For the Toronto Maple Leafs

Of course, it hasn’t gone unnoticed especially among the Toronto Maple Leafs fanbase that a big-name in P.K. Subban still remains without a contract.

However, signing players on pure name-value alone has a habit of back-firing. Thus, the Toronto Maple Leafs would want to carry out certain due diligence before making a genuine approach to the 2013 Norris Trophy winner.

If you’re talking adding P.K. Subban at the peak of his powers back in 2013; it’d be a complete no-brainer. With the ageing curve though and a roster very much tight to the cap, it may not make great sense.

That is unless a few certain parameters are met, in which case, the Toronto Maple Leafs could seek out P.K. Subban as yet another player due their homecoming to the city.

Toronto Maple Leafs Would Need To Make Moves

First and foremost, the Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn’t be wise to sign P.K. Subban all the while that Rasmus Sandin remains unsigned.

Doing so would send further messages to Sandin’s camp that his work will be cut out to garner any sort of decent game-time in the coming season. While, Sandin lacks any great leverage; it’s hard to see him signing if yet another defenseman arrives to block his ice-time.

Likewise, with the salary cap situation in Toronto; any move for Subban, given the need to also sign Sandin, would likely necessitate moving out another player.

There may be some debate as to whether that player should be Alex Kerfoot or Justin Holl and while Kerfoot might be preferred given his greater cap hit; Holl would be the wiser option given he occupies a line-up spot that could easily be handed to Subban.

As such, the truth of the situation is that P.K. Subban makes less sense unless Holl is moved. In that scenario, it’d certainly be valuable to the Toronto Maple Leafs to have a right-sided option beyond T.J. Brodie (playing on his off-side).

There’s a lot of thinking out there that P.K. Subban is well past his prime but the statistics have his presence on the ice for the New Jersey Devils last season aligning with positive defensive results.

Per Natural Stat Trick, the Devils were on the positive side of the ledger when it came to shots and expected goals when Subban was out at five-on-five last year. Additionally, he featured on both the penalty kill and powerplay, which is never a bad thing when adding a player.

Perhaps there is a feeling, because of his appearance off-ice, especially on social media, that he is no longer getting the job done.

Indeed, the Toronto Maple Leafs do encourage some level of personality and interaction off-ice. They’ve certainly supported Auston Matthews in ensuring some level of celebrity beyond just playing for the Leafs.

While he may not match up to his Norris Trophy winning standards, there’s still enough out there, based on the numbers, to suggest that he is a worthwhile blue-line signing and could improve the team.

P.K. Subban makes some sense with obvious caveats and a need to sign for league-minimum. If that is the case; the Leafs would still be doing themselves justice in pursuing him.