Will These Rumored Trades Help the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Checking In on the Players the Toronto Maple Leafs May Be Looking At

Ivan Barbashev

Barbashev is in his seventh season with the St. Louis Blues since being drafted by them in 2014.

The Blues selected him in the 2nd round with the 33rd overall pick. He had a career year last season with 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points in 81 games.  He’s a good player, but I don’t think anyone was expecting him to score at a 40 goal pace.
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)

So far, Barbashev has six goals and 12 assists for 18 points in 39 games this season, which isn’t even close to what he did last year, but the Blues have struggled.

Since his career year came out of nowhere, and he seems to have everted back to his regular self, it’s hard to see him as a significant upgrade over any of the Leafs current options, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t see something in him they like, which could lead to him being a buy-lop option.

Fans will like that he plays with physicality and is not afraid to fight if needed.

He finished last season with 160 hits and has 82 this season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs only have one forward with more than 55 hits, and it’s Zach Aston-Reese with 84. He has a small salary cap hit of $2.25 million, which Toronto could easily find a way to add him. (Salary info from capfriendly.com)