Deadline day arrived and my hopes were high the Leafs would be able to move Parenteau, Boyes or Grabner for a pick or two. It seems the market was quite stagnant and there weren’t as many buyers as there was projected to be.
Should fans be disappointed in the lack of moves Toronto made on Monday’s deadline day?
Certainly not, considering Leafs General Manager Lou Lamoriello had already made five bold trades leading up to the trade deadline. Daniel Winnik was traded yet again, bringing in another glorious return for the Maple Leafs. Toronto fans should be applauding Winnik every time he comes back to the Air Canada Center to play the Leafs. He gave his best every game in Toronto and was traded twice from the Leafs to a contending team; bringing back future assets to the organization and helping speed up the rebuild.
Thank you Daniel Winnik!
Lamoriello was also able to dish out the Leafs Captain Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators. Lou also traded Matthias, Polak, Spaling and Reimer and did an excellent job stock piling more picks for Dale Hunter, but also added in a couple quality prospects while doing so. Tobias Lindberg and Connor Carrick are now in the Leafs system and could both have quality NHL careers ahead of them. I’m baffled Toronto was able to steal Carrick away from the Capitals, this kid can play hockey! Carrick is 21 years of age and can hold his own on the ice. Carrick is a right handed defenseman which seems to hold a lot of value in the NHL these days. Keep a close eye on Carrick, I expect him to impress in all facets of the game for the Maple Leafs going forward.
After trading all of those roster players, the Leafs were able to add in four second-round picks and two fourth-round picks. Mark Hunter and his merry men are certainly going to have a vast number of players to scope out prior to this year’s and next year’s drafts. The Leafs are absolutely loaded up with picks, and who better to pick these players than Hunter and Ari Vuori. If you recall, Ari was scooped up by the Leafs when Babcock came to Toronto. He was one of the Detroit Red Wings best scouts.
I’ve never had as much faith in Leafs management as I do now.
It was quite the eye opener on Monday when the Leafs made a mass amount of transactions with the Marlies players sending them up and down as part of a master plan to keep all of Toronto’s best prospects eligible for the AHL playoffs, but also available to play for the Leafs at the NHL level.
Finally a taste for the young blood prospects who worked so hard to get where they are.
William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman and Nikita Soshnikov all made their way to the ACC for their NHL debuts as the Leafs hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. Was it all part of the master plan to bring all these kids up and showcase them to Stamkos? One could fathom that thought, one could also say it was quite the coincidence the Leafs played the Lightning on the Monday, deadline day.
I wonder if Stamkos liked what he saw on the Leafs bench, between Babcock and the Leafs young blood future stars. Time will tell, and that time is slowly getting closer and closer. Keep the faith alive, the new regime has begun and changes are coming for the better.
Now is a time for Babcock and the Leafs management to see what they have in Nylander, Kapanen and the rest of the call-ups. Whether they keep them up for the remainder of the season or just on a nine game stint, management will have a better idea of how these players are progressing. Good or bad, they will still have the summer to work on their game and preparing to take the next step to the NHL level.
It’s important for these players to have fun and enjoy their time in the National Hockey League. Babcock will work his magic and ensure they are given a fair chance with quality ice time and put in situations to succeed. Even if Toronto loses vast majority of the games down the stretch, it’s important for these young players not to lose focus and continue to work on their game and improving parts of the game they are not as strong at. For instance we all know Nylander is amazing with the puck and I’m sure they want him to show his improvement and maturity of his game without the puck. So far so good for the young guns, I’m really looking forward to seeing what they bring to the table in game two tonight when perhaps the nerves are not so tingly.
Burning off a year of the (ELC) entry-level contract isn’t all that bad. There are positives and negatives to anything in life. The ELC situation with both Nylander and Kapanen is no different and it’s all how you want to look at it. First and foremost you get to see where the player stands in terms of readiness to become a full time NHL player. As for the first contract which is pretty cheap, the Leafs could always sign the player earlier if they like them and have faith they will be dependable sooner than later.
Toronto also has a few players on the salary roll next year who are mostly just eating up cap space as they were part of other deals to move out bigger and longer termed contracts, like Phaneuf.
Laich, Michalek, Greening and Cowen will all be on the pay role and combine to make 14 million plus. So next year Toronto will have some money to throw around, but not an absolute fortune like they will the season after. Having players like Nylander and Kapanen making peanuts would help offset these inflated contracts that the Leafs hope to dump before next year’s deadline. One can hope.
The Shanaplan continues to unfold and us fans have some exciting games ahead, enjoy them. There is still pain ahead, lots of it.
Thanks for reading!
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • 
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