Toronto Maple Leafs Make Trade With Avalanche Before Roster Freeze
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced a trade on Monday morning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired forward Dryden Hunt from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Denis Malgin.
Hunt is a 6’0, 193 lbs. forward from Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada.
The Leafs will be his fifth team in six years and his third team this season.
Signed by the Florida Panthers in 2016 as an undrafted free agent, Hunt only played in 63 games for the Panthers over three seasons. He registered three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 63 games for the Panthers. (Stats from hockey-reference.com).
Toronto Maple Leafs Make Deal Ahead of NHL Roster Freeze
On October 10th, 2020, Hunt signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes. He totaled eight points in 26 games for the Coyotes that season.
Last season, Hunt signed a two-year contract with the New York Rangers and recorded six goals and 11 assists for 17 points in 76 games. The Rangers placed Hunt on waivers, hoping he would clear and play in the AHL, but he was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche.
Hunt did not work out with the Avalanche, picking up one point in 25 games, though his role is primarily defensive. The Leafs pick up a solid defensive player and give up a player who is more of a scorer, but who doesn’t have any obvious place to play.
The Leafs are trading away Malgin, who has not produced. He has registered four points in 31 games since the Maple Leafs acquired him from the Florida Panthers in 2020 for Mason Marchment.
Clearly the Leafs would like that trade back, but any time you get a chance to swap a poor skating 25 year old (Marchment’s age at the time of the trade) who has barely played in the NHL, for a 23 year old with obvious NHL talent, you’re going to make that trade.
It didn’t work out, at all, for the Leafs, but hindsight is 20/20 and it’s drastically unfair to blame them for trading a guy who defied all the odds to become what he is today.
The NHL’s roster freeze will take effect at Midnight, so any teams looking to make trades, need to do so on Monday. Otherwise, they will need to wait until the roster freeze gets lifted after the Christmas holiday.
Adding Hunt for Malgin does increase the Toronto Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but only a little. Malgin’s cap hit was $750,000, while the cap hit for Hunt will cost Toronto $762,500. An increase of $12,500 that Dubas was willing to add.
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Toronto does not play until Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.