The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade Their First-Round Pick For Top Defensemen
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the upcoming 2024 NHL entry draft.
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Easton Cowen with the 28th overall pick just last year, and after tearing it up in the OHL, he should be making an impact in the NHL next season.
This may be a silly suggestion after what appears to be a late-round gem, but the Leafs should trade their first-round pick.
With four years left on Auston Matthews's contract, the Leafs are strategically locked into a four-year Stanley Cup window. With one more year on Mitch Marner and John Tavares's deals, the front office is considering a big move with their first-round pick.
If executed well, this move could give the 'core four' one more shot before big decisions have to be made, showcasing the team's thoughtful planning and commitment to success.
It is of utmost importance that the Maple Leafs address their blueline. With little top-end defensive talent on the free-agent market this year, the team is exploring all options. In the last year and a half, we've seen Mattias Ekholm, Jakub Chychrun, Sean Walker and Noah Hanafin all go for first-round picks.
All four of these guys would have made a significant impact on the Leafs blueline, and knowing a first-rounder is about the ballpark for this type of player, I have found three defensemen the Maple Leafs should be making calls about before they hit the clock on draft night.
All Salary Cap Info from CapFriendly. All Stats From NaturalStatTrick.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade Their First-Round Pick For Top Defensemen
Jakub Chychrun
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators have already been linked in speculative offseason rumours about a blockbuster trade, with Mitch Marner and Brady Tkachuk being the headline pieces.
While that trade could be more realistic, Chychrun is a much more appealing and realistic target.
Sidenote: Why would the Maple Leafs want to trade one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL for the guy that had the second most penalty minutes in the NHL? Would that make the Leafs better? No.
Chychrun's career has been riddled with injury concerns, but he finally showed he could play an entire season in 2023-24, playing all 82 games and tying his career high in points.
Chychrun has one year left on his deal and will likely be due for a pay raise at the end of the season. The Senators are already locked into paying Josh Norris and Jake Sanderson eight-plus million dollars for the next four years, making it challenging to keep Chychrun moving forward.
Chychrun would help the Leafs in many ways. He would be great on the second powerplay unit and provide much-needed puck movement and offence to the blue line.
The concern with Chychrun is that his defensive numbers were horrendous last season, but the Senators' defence was terrible all around, so it is tough to know how much stock to put into that. But what was encouraging about Chychrun's play in his zone is that he ranked among the top 25 percent of defensemen in defensive zone retrievals and retrieval success.
I am no expert on the cost of these players, but this deal would take some work. The Maple Leafs first-round pick would be a great starting point for trade involving Chychrun, who helps the Maple Leafs in all the areas they struggled with last season.
Noah Dobson
This one may be far-fetched because Dobson is coming off a career year in which he scored 70 points in 78 games.
But he has one year left on his contract, and just like Chychrun, he'll be due for a big raise. The Islanders already owe 12 million dollars to Ryan Puloch and Adam Pelech.
They pay their goalie more than eight million dollars and have 17.5 million dollars spent between Anders Lee, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Pierre Engvall, and Casey Cizikas over the next two seasons.
Those last four have to be among some of the worst contracts in the NHL.
With Ilya Sorokin, Bo Horvat, and Mattew Barzal all under contract through 2030-2031, it is not impossible to see the Islanders wanting to get younger through the draft. This would give them some cap flexibility going into free agency, as they only have six million dollars to spend and only 11 forwards and five defensemen on NHL contracts, with multiple of those being prospects.
Dobson is an elite offensive defenseman. Last year, he ranked in the top 10 percent of defensemen in finishing wins above replacement (WAR) and in the top four percent in primary assists. In addition, he ranked seventh among defensemen in points on an Islanders team in the bottom half of the NHL in goals-per-game.
Dobson is another guy who could be better on his own end, but he was on the ice for the most goals per 60 minutes of any Islanders defenseman and finished the year with a 57 percent goal share while on the ice at five-on-five.
Dobson would cost more than a first-round pick, but he is a good starting point as a restricted free agent at the end of the season, which would give the Leafs first dibs at signing him long-term or recouping some of the cost through draft pick compensation if they decide to go a different route.
K'Andre Miller
Again, it's far-fetched, but Miller is another player whose contract expires at the end of the season. Miller finished the season with only 30 points, but he ranked in the top 21 percent of defensemen in defensive WAR, and the top 15 percent in penalty kill WAR.
It will be difficult for the Rangers to sign Miller again after this season, as they already pay Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba over eight million dollars a year each. After this season, they will also have to sign Igor Sheshterkin, and the Rangers will need money for Artemi Panarin the following year.
This could be a great by-low spot for the Maple Leafs, as Miller had a down year for his standards, only having a 45 percent goal share at five-on-five.
Outside of last year, Miller has had a positive goal share in his other three seasons in the NHL. He is highly physical and an above-average passer on the back end, ranking in the top 21 percent of defensemen in primary shot assists last season.
Miller would be a massive addition to a weak Maple Leafs penalty kill and would add some much-needed physicality that can still move the puck, which the Leafs tried but failed to add at last year's trade deadline.
I have no clue if a first-round pick is too much or too little for this type of player, but Miller would be a great addition to the Leaf's defensive core and is worth the call to the Rangers to see if they would be willing to move him, and how much it would cost.
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Regardless if the Toronto Maple Leafs trade this first-round pick, they need to improve defensively. Following another first-round exit, the front office said they would explore everything. I do not know if any of these guys would be available via trade, but it is worth making calls to these three teams about these three players if we were exploring everything.