Capitals Defensemen who may Interest the Toronto Maple Leafs
Left-shooting defenseman Dmitry Orlov may be at the top of the Leafs wish list in this group.
He has played well on a poor team and has the stats to back it up. In 43 games, Orlov has recorded 3 goals and 16 assists. His possession metrics show that he’s been effective playing against opponents top players. Orlov has an even-strength Corsi rating of 51.1%, which is slightly better than his team. He is currently playing with a cap hit of $5.1 million.
The Leafs could also be interested in the Caps right-shooting defenseman, Nick Jensen. He averages 20:52 minutes per contest and is an important part of the team’s D-core. Jensen has scored a goal and added 20 helpers in 59 games. He is playing on a cap hit of $2.5 million.
A player who the Leafs could very well target is Trevor van Riemsdyk. He is someone that Sheldon Keefe could advocate to acquire because of his ability to defend and willingness to put his body on the line every single night. In fact, van Riemsdyk leads his club in blocked shots this year with 128 of them.
With John Carlson on LTIR, van Riemsdyk has been playing on the top pairing with Orlov. Van Riemsdyk could likely be acquired without Toronto giving up a large package and he’d be an easy fit into Toronto’s cap space with his $950k AAV. Even if it was just for insurance purposes, van Riemsdyk could be a strong candidate for a trade.
Don’t count out Erik Gustafsson either. He is a puck moving defender who can help add offense. Gustafsson this season has played in 58 games where he has registered 7 goals and 27 assists. His even strength possession metrics are solid as well.
Gustafsson has a Corsi rating of 54.6%, which is 5.7 greater than his team. It’s important to keep in mind that he is someone who can help on the powerplay but struggles to shut down opponents.