The Toronto Maple Leafs off-season to date has been pretty underwhelming.
At the end of the season press-conference, the Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Brad Treliving, and President, Brendan Shanahan, spoke vaguely of change and offered nothing of substance.
Days later, the season's failure was unfairly pinned on Coach Sheldon Keefe who was replaced with Craig Berube.
Mitch Marner was chosen as the New Jake Gardiner in the fans' annual scapegoating social media frenzy, while rumours about pretty much every player in the league ultimately led to nothing.
The Leafs missed out on Jacob Markstrom despite a supposedly equal offer, and they also missed out on Linus Ullmark, Jusse Saros and Jacob Chychrun. They did, however, sign walking medical station Joseph Woll to a contract extension.
The NHL Entry Draft was last Friday and the Leafs drafted a guy whose ceiling if everything goes right is a #4 on an NHL blue-line. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me.
Here is nice write up on every player they drafted.
In free-agency, the Leafs took a major risk on Chris Tanev, and overspent on Oliver Ekman-Larson. Their blue-line looks OK but lacks the high-end option that propelled teams like Tampa, Colorado and Dallas to recent Stanley Cup Finals.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Trade for Aaron Ekblad
What the Leafs didn't do is replace Tyler Betuzzi and (one assumes) Nick Robertson upfront, they didn't add a much needed 3C and they failed to add a high-end goalie option.
The Leafs re-signed Domi and Liljegren. They are yet to re-sign Nick Robertson or Connor DeWar. They also signed Jani Hakanpaa, Philippe Myers and Dakota Mermis as depth options.
Overall, it's not a very good off-season so far, but it's not a disaster. If Tanev avoids decline and the goalies work out, this could be a very good team. But that's a lot of "ifs" for a team with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and William Nylander in their primes.
A trade is an obvious solution to the Leafs remaining problems. The consensus is probably to trade for a forward, but I actually like the Leafs forwards and think they should just have some open competition at Training Camp and then look to fill any holes they have at the trade deadline.
In the meantime, I think they should target a number-one defenseman. One said to be available. Brad Treliving once-upon-a-time traded for Dougie Hamilton and he should do the same thing now for Aaron Ekblad.
Despite Gustav Forsling having an outstanding year, Aaron Ekblad is/was the Panthers best defender. They may be cocky after winning the Cup and turning two non-entities into superstars (Forsing and Montour).
The Leafs signaled they are all-in when they placed their bet on Chris Tanev. Why not go all the way and have the best blue-line in the NHL?
Ekblad has 1 year left at $7.5 and can be re-signed next year when Tavares money comes off the books. He is 28, 6'4 220 lbs and a great defender who can move the puck.
An Ekblad-Tanev would be the best in the NHL. A Rielly-Liljegren pairing that gets played in offensive situations, followed by an OEL-McCabe one that doesn't, would be absolutely insane.
Easton Cowan and a draft pick probably gets it done. Cowan is never going to have higher value than right now, and since the Leafs need to win now - before anyone gets any older - this is the exact right move. The cap can be solved by sending Kampf, Reaves and Jarnkrok out of town. The Leafs may need to pay a third team to retain, but that shouldn't be much of a road-block.
They will still have 3 superstar forwards and they will have Tavaers and Domi + the emergence of Fraser Minten and Mattew Knies. They would also have that legit number-one defenseman they have been missing this whole time.
The Leafs need to trade for Aaron Ekblad.