Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Deadline Needs: Forward/Goalie
Although the Bobby McMann feel-good hattrick story is great, it seems to mask a legitimate issue that the Leafs have had this season, depth.
Specifically, on their fourth-line with David Kampf. The Leafs re-upped their defacto shutdown centre to a four year contract, carrying a $2.4 million AAV last off-season. It was one of Treliving's first moves as GM and has not looked good so far, less than one season in. Almost every line combination featuring Kampf this season has been repeatedly caved-in by just about every metric.
Although I don't claim to be an expert, one of the biggest takeaways that I have noticed with Kampf since he became a Leaf was that he seems to be at his best when he has two speedy, forechecking wingers with good puck skills.
The best line that Kampf played on was when he had Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev flanking him. They could both carry the puck in transition, using their speed to help their line go from starting in the defensive end to finishing their shift in the offensive zone. Noah Gregor and Ryan Reaves are not even close to those players.
Unfortunately, it's not only Kampf that has been a dragging the Leafs this season, it is their bottom-six in general, at least until recently.
Although their third line is producing at a decent pace, the Leafs lack a real difference maker upfront aside from their core-four forwards. Even simply looking at the stat sheets, there is a noticeable drop-off in production after John Tavares.
Now currently, I have the Leafs needs set at a top-four and/or third-pair defenceman, a middle-six scoring winger, and a depth forward. I feel that this would be good enough for the Leafs to look at making a serious run, assuming that Joseph Woll mostly returns to form when he comes back from injury.
He was recently sent down to the Marlies for a conditioning stint, if he is able to return back to an above .910% save percentage netminder and Samsonov is able to continue his play as of late, the Leafs should be fine between the pipes. However, if either of them isn't up to snuff, Treliving may need to add a goltender to his shopping list. (All stats viaMoneyPuck.com.All Contract values via CapFriendly.com).
The trade deadline is March 8th at 3pm EST, time is running out for Treliving and Co. to decide whether they stand pat or if they intend to go all-in for this season.