4 Toronto Maple Leafs That Will be Gone by the NHL Trade Deadline
By Edward Eng
Conor Timmins
After being acquired from the Arizona Coyotes last season by the Leafs in exchange for Curtis Douglas, defenseman Conor Timmins made quite the impression with his new team by registering 10 points in his first 12 games.
More importantly, he provided a strong right-handed shot option on the blue line that the Leafs significantly lacked with a stacked left-handed shot back end.
However, as the Leafs got more healthy, along with some big acquisitions at the trade deadline in Luke Schenn, Jake McCabe, and Erik Gustafsson, Timmins was slowly squeezed out of the rotation in the daily lineup.
In the end, he found himself as the team’s extra defenseman and saw his time mainly up in the booth. He would finish the 2022-23 season with 2 goals, 12 assists for 14 points in 25 total games played.
During the 2023-24 preseason, Timmins appeared to have the upper hand in landing a spot on the Leafs roster for Opening Night with his stellar play in training camp. However, an ill-timed injury put him out of the picture for nearly two months until the end of November.
Since then, Timmins has only got into 14 games so far and has put up 6 points in the process. With the Leafs blueline all healed up, along with the stronger defensive option of Simon Benoit being deployed more often, Timmins has seen limited played time once again this season.
How much longer he can endure this remains to be seen, but if upgrading the current defense is what’s on the table by the trade deadline, Timmins’ time with the Leafs could be ending pretty soon.