Jacob Markstrom Trade Grades: A Massive Win for the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have to be very happy with the Jacob Markstrom trade yesterday.

In case you missed it, the goalie most rumored to be coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs, due to his former connections with GM Brad Treliving, was traded by the Calgary Flames to the New Jersey Devils yesterday afternoon.

This deal is great for the Leafs because Markstrom would have been a bad choice and this saves them from making an error.

More importantly, it sets the goalie market heavily in their favor.

Jacob Markstrom Trade a Massive Win for the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Flames have an absolutely terrible GM in Craig Conroy, and they really should think about getting rid of him because he has set their rebuild back years and years with a series of terrible trades.

Getting what is more than likely to be a pick in the 20s and a 3rd pairing defenseman for one of, if not the top goalie available must seem like a bad joke to the team's fans.

The Devils get an A+ for getting a star goalie for a dirt-cheap cost. They don't give up their upcoming 10th overall pick, and they don't have to move a top prospect. Genius move.

The Flames get an F because I haven't seen a GM screw up this badly since Leafs GM Brad Treliving elected to sit out the NHL's most recent trade deadline. Even without the retention, this trade would be a loser. With the retention it's a joke.

The Leafs get an A+ as well, despite not being involved in this trade at all.

The benefit to the Leafs here is, not to be too hyperbolic, but it's massive.

The Leafs are in a pickle. They can't just go cheap on a goalie because Auston Matthews is in his prime, so the Leafs have no choice but to go big in net. They can't gamble here, so they have to get as close to a sure thing as possible.

They don't have an in-house option, and they certainly aren't going to find an upper echelon goalie in the unrestricted free agent market.

That leaves basically three guys who fit the bill as potentially elite, and potentially available.

You could not-quite-but-almost-guarantee that the Leafs will be trading for either Jusse Saros, John Gibson or Jordan Binnington.

Whichever one they choose, the acquisition price just went way, way down.

For a goalie that is equal to or better than all three of those, the Devils just paid the bare minimum. They will get that goalie for a cheaper cap hit than any of those three guys currently have. So what if he's older? Let's say the age thing cancels out the salary retention, which it probably doesn't, if the Leafs were to offer Timothy Liljegren and the upcoming 23rd pick in the draft, either Anaheim, St.Louis or Nashville would be getting a better package than the Flames got.

This is great news for the Leafs.