Toronto Maple Leafs: Grading the Most Recent NHL Trades

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a new GM, but you wouldn’t know it.

As of this writing, new Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving has yet to make a move since being hired.

Unless you count hiring an assistant GM, which I do not. 

However, many other NHL teams have been busy.

The Flyers keep making trades that end up not happening, and there was actually quite a lot of NHL action leading up to the NHL Awards “Show” last night.  (I put show in quotations because it didn’t really seem like it was very entertaining).

Here then are your most recent NHL Trade Grades.

Non Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Grades

The Devils got Shane Bowers from Boston for Riley Walsh.  I rate this trade 4 x “Who the Heck Are Those Guys?” because unless you are an extreme hockey fanatic, you don’t know. This trade will have likely zero repercussions for people who do not personally know Nash or Bowers.

The Blackhawks picked up Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno for nothing, helping out the Bruins and getting them out of cap trouble.  This trade get’s an F for Chicago because the Hawks should be getting assets for their cap space, and for the Bruins this gets an A+ for tricking a silly team.

It’s annoying to me that every team but the Toronto Maple Leafs seems to get handed get out of salary cap jail cards every time they pass Go.

The Arizona Coyotes picked up Sean Durzi for a 2nd.  This gets a C, because Durzi is a non-star and the Coyotes should be using their picks to get players who might be. Still he has some upside even if I think he’s overated.

For the Kings, this is fine. They get a 2nd and they aren’t missing too much in Durzi.  He’s a decent enough player, and he can move the puck, but he’s not going to be missed all that much unless he breaks out in the desert, which seems unlikely but stranger things have happened.

The Avs traded for Ryan Johansen who is basically a replacement player at this point.  They will now have one of the worst #2 centres out of any contender, and they’ll be paying him $4 million.  I say this trade is a failure for Colorado, but good for Nashville.

I rate this a C- for Colorado and a B+ for Nashville.

Of course people are ranting about what a great deal it is for the Avs, but that’s because they think of Johanson as a name-brand player who is good, but he’s not.

What will the Toronto Maple Leafs do?  Well since the season ended they fired their GM and kept on their coach and President, which is the opposite of what they should have done.  Then they compounded that by hiring the most boring choice possible as GM, so I am not expecting much in the way of good things, Leafs-Wise.

I have, however, been wrong before (shocking, right?) so let’s see what happens.