Toronto Maple Leafs Rumored To Be Making a Huge Mistake (Or Two)

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be in Sweden, but that doesn’t mean that the rumour mill is taking a break. 

Not only are the Toronto Maple Leafs supposedly in talks to acquire Nikita Zadorov, who recently asked for a trade from the Calgary Flames, but they are also supposedly interested in also acquiring Chris Tanev as well.

There is a lot to unpack there, but there’s another rumour and it’s about future Hall of Fame player Patrick Kane.

Supposedly the Leafs have met with him.

Toronto Maple Leafs Rumored To Be Making a Huge Mistake (Or Two)

The Toronto Maple Leafs should not have any interest in Patrick Kane.

He is 35 and coming off a major hip surgery.  Last year he wasn’t even a point-per-game player, and in a league that never stops talking about “character” Kane is not known to have much, if any.

Furthermore, players who decline rarely ever get it back after the age of 30, let alone 35.  Now, there is an exception for elite players, which Kane certainly used to be, but it’s not guaranteed.

He could be a great help to the Leafs, but it’s statistically unlikely.  Even if he scores, it doesn’t matter – you have to go back almost a decade, to 2015 to find the last time Patrick Kane’s Expected Goals rating was above 50%.

That means that outside of special teams, it’s been a very long time since Patrick Kane was a helpful player at 5v5.

Sure, on the Toronto Maple Leafs he might be a good third line player.  If you could replace Calle Jarkrok with him at half the cost, you might have a nice little depth scoring edge who could help you out on special teams, but that would never happen.

Does anyone think that if the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Patrick Kane it would only be for the league minimum?  He’s going to sign for less than Ryan Reaves is he?

And even if he did, do you think they’d play him on the 3rd line?  Of course not, he’d be on the first line taking minutes away from the much better Matthew Knies.

This kind of name-brand thinking, which shows a real perception-over-reality way of thinking, is what led to signing the likes of Domi, Reaves and Klingberg.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should have no problem moving Knies or Robertson down the lineup if they get a player who is truly better. If the Leafs acquire someone as good as Kane used to be, that would be awesome.

But to just have an aging ex-star come in and take over is a move we’ve seen the Leafs make time and time again.  It hasn’t worked out yet, and it’s not going to.

As for Zadorov and Tanev, they are both above average defensive players who are better than most of what the Toronto Maple Leafs have, it’s just important not to overpay for average players.

Don’t forget, that in the last year or so both Jacob Chychrun, Erik Karlsson and Hampus Lindholm have switched teams, so it’s not like you are stuck targeting only average players.