Juuse Saros and Nikita Zadorov Make a Good Summer for the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs had the worst summer in the NHL last season, and, as the kids say: "It wasn't even close."
The rest of the NHL looked on Shadenfreauding as the Toronto Maple Leafs fired the young executive they spent years training and then hired the league's most generic hockey-guy on the rebound.
Treliving then went on to fail spectacularly, signing Ryan Reaves to a humiliating three-year deal, and failing to do proper due-diligence on the injured John Klingberg.
Treliving then went on to wast money on Max Domi and sign David Kampf as the NHL's most expensive fourth liner. The only good thing he did was sign Tyler Bertuzzi to a team-friendly one-year deal.
Even Treliving's extensions were ill-advised: he didn't get the full eight years out of Auston Matthews and should have traded WIlliam Nylander while he had the chance.
Additionally, Treliving failed to upgrade the Leafs defense or their goaltending and these were predictably the team's Achille's heel throughout a disappointing 10th place season that culminated in a first-round exit.
This summer, Trelviing can be much more successful just by brining in the two most obvious additions : Nikita Zadorov and Juuse Saros.
Juuse Saros and Nikita Zadorov Make a Good Summer for the Toronto Maple Leafs
There are a lot of things the Leafs have going on: the draft, their 22 free-agents, their new coach, their roster, Mitch Marner etc.
The pressure is immense. There are many options that Treliving is weighing - dumb ones like Max Domi and Laurent Brossoit, or trading Marner - but there are two no-brainers and he should concentrate on those.
The first, is the goalie. There is a lot of talk about finding a partner for Joseph Woll, but this is silly. Woll is not only an untested sophomore, he's incredibly injury prone. Getting a career-backup to go with him is basically just making your starting goalie a back-up goalie.
The Leafs have never paired Auston Matthews with a top goalie, and they've never won a damn thing. Coincidence? I doubt it.
The Leafs should put all their focus on Jusse Saros and not stop until it's done.
After that, all their other problems are stupid in comparison to their need for a top flight defenseman. Getting one of those is not possible, so they should go for the next best thing: someone with a chance to be one, who currently isn't.
Nikita Zadorov is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. The Leafs need to be all-in on getting him, and they can't wait for free-agency.
manual
It doesn't matter what else happens, the Leafs summer depends on getting two players: Saros and Zadorov. Anything less is an abject failure.