The Toronto Maple Leafs took a big swing at the beginning of this season by trading for Kirill Marchenko. It was the sort of bold move that GM John Chayka had to make to propel the organization to a competitive level.
The move worked while Marchenko was on the ice. But as has been the case again for the Leafs this season, injuries have played a major role in derailing their season.
And now, it looks like the chickens have come home to roost for Chayka’s calculated risk.
That risk involved maxing out his tagging room. That once-obscure rule is now on everyone’s minds. And all it took was boneheaded bet to make it prominent among NHL fans and pundits. And it’s that rule, which isn’t so obscure anymore, that has thrown a massive spanner in the works for the Maple Leafs.
On Thursday night against the Wild, an injury to Morgan Rielly and a maintenance day for Chris Tanev forced the Leafs to dress Dakota Mermis and Cole McWard as the third pair. While they are fine defenseman, they’re not the kind of combination that inspires the sort of confidence the organization needs to excel.
To be fair, the Leafs held their own. They were up 2-1 in the second period and entered the third with a chance to win the game.
However, a miscue by Oliver Ekman-Larsson allowed Matt Boldy to get his hat-trick goal. Then, the Wild struck again seconds after a power play had expired.
And that was all she wrote for the Leafs. Ekman-Larsson got burned twice in the third, and, well, the situation made it clear that the Maple Leafs do need defensive upgrades.
And that’s why that calculated risk has ended up preventing the Maple Leafs from making much-needed upgrades.
Maple Leafs are stuck with problem contracts
A major part of the calculated risk happened when the Leafs signed Marchenko to the extension they did. As Elliotte Friedman noted, Marchenko’s camp was eager to sign the extension immediately. Had they been willing to wait, the Maple Leafs would have all sorts of room now to maneuver.
Instead, the move hamstrung them, and, well, now Toronto is stuck running the third pair with AHL-caliber defensemen.
That said, the real problem contracts that Chayka took on were the two that came from Columbus. Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins were both cap dumps for Columbus. Chayka took them on willingly to make the deal work.
While Merzlikins is inconsequential, Wood is the real problem. Merzlikins is currently on LTIR, with his contract up this summer. So, that’s not an issue insofar as the tagging room problem.
But Wood is. He has one more year left on his deal. And the $2.5 million due to Wood next season is just one of the obstacles that have kept Chayka from making something happen.
Meanwhile, Dakota Joshua is another contract the Maple Leafs would like to shed. But the problem is that no one around the league is prepared to help Toronto. Everyone is happy seeing the Leafs struggle to figure out what to do. Unless a guy like Wood or Joshua does the Leafs a solid by mutually terminating their contract, the roster is set as it is. Any deal that Chayka makes has to be money in and money out.
Sadly, no one is really interested in any of the higher-ticket items on the Leafs roster. In hindsight, the Leafs should have traded Ekman-Larsson at last season’s trade deadline when his value was much higher.
Perhaps the Leafs should have sold low on Morgan Rielly when they had the chance.
At the end of the day, this all boils down to caving to Marchenko’s desire to sign his extension right away. Sure, you can’t blame the guy for pushing. But Chayka, who thought he could wiggle his way out of the situation, has now learned that the NHL is nothing like trading stocks.
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