On Wednesday this past week, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving finally traded former first round pick Timothy Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a pair of draft picks and veteran defenseman Matt Benning.
While the trade cleared up nearly $2 Million in cap space, it did not solve one of the roster issues that the Toronto Maple Leafs have right now and that is they are at the maximum player limit. Friday morning the Leafs press release announced that both Jani Hakanpää and Connor Dewar were being assigned to the Marlies on an LTIR conditioning loan, which means both are close to returning the roster.
The Marlies play just one game this week which is Saturday in Cleveland against the Monsters. Along with Fraser Minten, you can expect Hakanpää and Dewar in the line-up.
This leaves just a matter of days left until Treliving will need to find two roster spots to get both players back to active duty.
Is Matt Benning Being Traded?
The quickest and easiest solution for one roster spot would be trading recently added Benning. During Thursday's Insider Trading on TSN, Darren Dreger stated the potential of Treliving trading the recently acquired defenseman for an asset.
Benning missed nearly all of 2023-24 with a hip surgery and has played in just seven games so far this season all with the Sharks where he averaged 13:02 a night registering seven shots on net and no points. While a draft pick would be nice to get in return, there would not be a whole lot of value to a player who has skated in just 21 games over the last year and bit. If Treliving can get an additional sixth or seventh round pick into the cupboard, you should consider it a win.
It is unlikely that Benning ever gets into a game with the Maple Leafs and if a trade does not transpire, expect him to be placed on waivers and sent to the Marlies by the end of the weekend.
Once Benning is moved, one more player needs to come off the roster and all indications would appear to be Philippe Myers also being placed on waivers. The soon to be 28-year old could hold some value in a trade as he is a 6'5", 220 lbs right handed shot defenseman, but he has gotten into just one game so far with the Maple Leafs this year after spending nearly all of the previous two seasons in the American Hockey League. Treliving may be able to get a conditional pick, but the more likely situation is he clears waivers and plays out the season in the AHL.
With Dewar returning, an even bigger long jam on the bottom six will occur. With Dewar, Steven Lorentz, Max Domi and Bobby McMann likely penciled into those roles, Berube will have to decide between David Kämpf, Nicholas Robertson, Pontus Holmberg and Ryan Reaves battling for the final two spots. This is all before Calle Järnkrok's return, so expect an additional trade happening in the next couple of weeks.