Toronto Maple Leafs Should Not Have Interest In Tyler Myers

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have two of their top four defenseman on the injured reserve, and are rumored to be in the market for some help at the position.

Reports suggest the Toronto Maple Leafs have been kicking tires on the idea of adding Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers.

First and foremost, it’d seem the Leafs would only be making this deal because Tyler Myers offers some size on the blue-line. He is very much the poor man’s Jake Muzzin.

It’s crazy to think that Myers was inked to a contract worth more annually than the aforementioned Muzzin; especially when you consider that Muzzin brought more than just a bigger body before the harsh reality of his current injury.

Somehow he upped his previous $5.5 million seven-year contract to a $6 million five-year contract when he signed in Vancouver back in the summer of 2019 (per CapFriendly) the money just doesn’t make sense.

Tyler Myers Would Be A Dud Move for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Looking at what his fit would be with the Toronto Maple Leafs; it’s hard to see Myers displacing anyone in the line-up, even Justin Holl.

He has a long reach, a long stick and may intimidate opposition players, but as we’ve seen recently, Jordie Benn is a much cheaper snarly, possibly even slightly more physical option on the back-end.

Apparently the Ottawa Senators discussed a deal involving former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, who was recently waived. Based on this, the Canucks’ primary need is cap space as this would’ve offered a $1.5 million saving.

With that in mind, it’s a struggle to find any deal that’d make sense except perhaps swapping Muzzin’s long-term injured reserve contract.

However to do so would lack any real value for the Toronto Maple Leafs, so you’d obviously be asking for some sort of decent return alongside Myers.

It really is a struggle to fathom why the Maple Leafs would be considering Myers as they seemed to have moved on from the era where size meant everything.

Just look to the fact that Denis Malgin is keeping Wayne Simmonds out of the line-up for justification as to why size isn’t the be all, end all.

When you consider that the Toronto Maple Leafs calling card should be that they play at pace, Tyler Myers would be a backwards step as he is often seen to slow play down.

Likewise, if Justin Holl seems to make poor decisions on where to play the puck, watch some of Tyler Myers decision-making and you’ll soon see, he lacks the clear vision to make a decent outlet pass most of the time.

Now some of this might be on the Vancouver Canucks and the system that Bruce Boudreau is coaching, but at his age, it’s unlikely that Myers will ever be able to adapt his game that much more.

Maybe if his contract was closer to league minimum or even around the price-point of Justin Holl’s deal, then Myers might be worth kicking the tires on.

If indeed though the Toronto Maple Leafs have genuinely asked Vancouver, you better hope they were on the hunt for someone significantly more impressive in addition to Myers.