The recent news about the Carolina Hurricanes and defenseman Alexander Nikishin agreeing on a one-year $3 million deal instantly brought a thought to my mind: This would be an ideal opportunity for the Maple Leafs to push for a Nikishin trade.
After all, it's not like the Maple Leafs couldn't use a young, high-end blueliner.
While the acquisition cost would not come cheap, the Maple Leafs would buy themselves a while to figure out a new contract for the 24-year-old.
Assuming that the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes could work something out, it would be foolish for the Leafs not to take advantage of his ultra-low cap hit, at least for one season. While Toronto would be inheriting Carolina’s contract issue with Nikishin, the bottom line is that there is no reason why John Chayka shouldn’t at least check in.
Of course, there might not be anything the Maple Leafs have that could entice the Hurricanes. But then again, the Leafs could use some of their chips to give Carolina potential trade capital it could use in another trade.
The most enticing piece is Colorado’s first-round pick. Would Nikishin be worth that first-rounder? It’s debatable. But at least the Leafs have an opportunity to kick things up beyond the “exploratory” talks and really try to make something happen.
Maple Leafs would have the rest of this season to work something out with Nikishin
At the end of the day, trading for Nikishin now is all about buying time. The extremely doable cap hit allows the Maple Leafs to bring Nikishin in, get him acclimated to the team, and then try to entice him to sign an extension.
The narrative has been that Nikishin’s camp had been looking for around $8 million AAV. That situation led to a change in Nikishin’s representation, one that was able to hammer out a show-me deal for this season.
And that’s precisely why the Leafs can take advantage of this juncture.
Toronto could offer Nikishin the opportunity he seeks, that is, to become a number-one NHL blueliner. That’s not really in the cards for him in Carolina. But in Toronto, there’s really nothing stopping him from claiming the top spot on the Maple Leafs’ blue line.
For now, all we know is that the Leafs have shown interest in Nikishin. Perhaps Chayka has been waiting for the Hurricanes and the Russian defenseman to work something out now. Now that they have, it might just be the right time to make a deal happen.
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