Ranking the Deadline Needs of the Toronto Maple Leafs
With four weeks until the NHL Trade Deadline, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving needs to prioritize what the team needs to improve.
As he has failed as the man behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, I feel it is important that we rank what the team needs mostly heading towards a playoff march.
The most important and obvious moves are what won't happen and that is replacing management which includes Treliving, President Brendan Shanahan and coach Sheldon Keefe.
The only way that happens is if the Leafs fail this season and the incoming President of MLSE fires Shanahan and starts over.
Ranking the Deadline Needs of the Toronto Maple Leafs
So what is most important to the club? Is it acquiring a defenseman? Maybe a goalie? Or how about a forward of some sort? Here we list the rankings of what needs the most improvement.
5. Top Six Left Winger
The biggest free agent signing this past summer was left winger Tyler Bertuzzi after he was signed to a one-year deal at $5.5 Million.
Bertuzzi has been stapled to either Auston Matthews or John Tavares for nearly the entire season and has averaged just under 16-minutes a night. With more than enough opportunities to make Chris Kunitz jealous, Bertuzzi has not worked out thus far.
The team was relying on Bertuzzi to be more of the 30-goal scorer from 2021-22 and not the eight goal scorer he was from last year. Unfortunately, he appears to be more of the ladder as he has just six goals through 47 games and only one goal since November 28 spanning over 28 games.
While it is a priority to get better in the top six, I am curious to see how he does once the playoffs come around. He made the tournament for the first time in his career last season and collected ten points in the seven-game series loss he had as a Boston Bruin.
There are more important priorities the club needs to fix and wasting an asset on improving this position may be a waste if that can't deal with a different area first.
Ranking the Leafs Trade Deadline Needs
4. Goaltender
The problem with the goaltending on the Maple Leafs is that you don't know what you have in Joseph Woll as he has been injured since early December and it is unclear when he is going to be game ready.
With such a little amount of a professional track record of Woll you don't know if you are going to get the goalie he was before the injury or someone that will land back on the injured list shortly after returning.
Ilya Samsonov has been the definition of inconsistency and Martin Jones is exactly what he is being paid to be, which is to give mediocre goaltending when the team is desperate.
With all that being said, I am not convinced the team needs to go out and waste an asset on a goalie unless you are getting a game break goaltender in the likes of Connor Hellebuyck or Andrei Vasilevskiy which neither of those guys will be available. Though there is one franchise goalie who might be.
If the Maple Leafs can fix any of the next three categories, Samsonov and Jones will look much better in net.
3. Third Line Center
One of the biggest holes on the team is the third line center role which is currently being handled by Max Domi. When he was signed it was predicted he was going to be a left winger, but after many failures up the mildle on that line Domi was thrusted into that spot.
After initially looking adequate in that position, his game has fallen off and he is averaging less than 13-minutes a night over his last 13 games including just 10:48 during the game against the New York Islanders. During those span of games, Domi has just two points which is not appealing for a third line center who doesn't play well in his own end.
In some recent articles I spoke about a few names which included Sean Monahan, Adam Henrique and Boone Jenner as targets that Treliving should go after. Monahan has since been traded to the Winnipeg Jets, which leaves the other two.
2. Second Pairing Defenseman
The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of, if not the worst defensive cores of any playoff team. Morgan Rielly is a legit number two defenseman, while the rest of the crew would fit into the bottom pairing on most teams trying to take a run at the Stanley Cup.
Everyone thought this year was the season that Timothy Liljegren would make the jump into the second pairing, but whether it is a recent hand injury or lack of awareness he has been unable to capture that spot.
Jake McCabe has been logging over 20-minutes a night this season and he rightfully has a spot on this team, however a third line spot is more towards his skill set. Treliving needs to bring in someone that can push the second year Maple Leaf down and help Liljegren find his game.
1. Top Pairing Defenseman
None of the other needs matter if the team can not get a top pairing defenseman on the team.
Right now, TJ Brodie is the top pairing defenseman with Rielly, but it has been a train wreck for the entire season. A legitimate top pairing defenseman does two things that are a level ahead that separate them which are they handle the defensive zone and they make clean breakout passes.
Night after night, we see Brodie skate himself into trouble against other teams top players or make passes that do not create a smooth transition game.
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Like the rest of the defensive core, Brodie would likely play well on the bottom pairing, unfortunately his $5 Million cap hit will likely make him a casualty at the trade deadline.