The NHL's most active team may be back at it. According to reports from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in the market for some help on the blue line.
This report comes during his Saturday night headlines segment, in which he broke the news that Toronto is kicking tires on what may be available on the open market, in terms of difference making defencemen, and they would be willing to pay a premium in order to complete the trade.
John Chayka is working the phones yet again
It's honestly not surprising that John Chayka is once again working the phones. This is the same GM that brought in 10 new players in his first summer and rebuilt the entire bottom-six. One of the areas that he added to, but didn't address fully, was the blue line.
He made the trade to bring in Darren Raddysh to help the power play and to add a booming slap shot from the point. But outside of that, he didn't necessarily address anything else. At one point, he was rumoured to be in on Columbus Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski; however, those died down when Werenski said publicly that he was staying put.
So, now, less than 10 games into the season, one of the areas that needs to be addressed is the blue line, and he is planning on doing something. As Friedman alluded to, Chayka is prepared to pay a "premium asset" to acquire a "difference-maker" on the back end, who can help them now.
""They've made it very clear that they aren't interested in a band-aid solution. They have said that they will pay a premium asset if they believe that they are getting a difference-maker on the blue line. Also, they've told people they are not moving what they consider A assets for a B-level replacement. That's number one. Number two, they've also indicated that they would consider getting a young player and moving a older guy for a young one.""Freidman - Saturday Night Headlines
Obviously, at this time, there is no real trade target outside of Werenski, if he were to welcome that trade. However, it is clear that when Chayka zeros in on a name, he doesn't waste time working the phones to get the deal across the finish line.
The other big question would be: who does Chayka consider a "premium asset", or the older player that they'd be open to trading to get a younger player in return. One would think Ben Danford would be in that category, as the Maple Leafs are clearly trying their best to compete and get back into the playoff picture. As for the older players, that's where things get interesting. Does that mean Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Or Anthony Stolarz?
It'll be really interesting to see what happens between now and Christmas because one thing is evident: the Maple Leafs are blowing leads and losing games because of it. So, Chayka is going to want to do something to help, try to string wins together and start banking points.
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