The Toronto Maple Leafs failure leading up to the February 24th trade deadline led GM Kyle Dubas to not waste more future assets to try and improve the club’s roster, but instead made a number of tinkering moves before 3pm that mostly affected the roster of the AHL Toronto Marlies.
Following the swap of minor league defenseman Ben Harpur for forward Miikka Salomaki on Saturday, Toronto sent goalie Michael Hutchinson to the Colorado Analanche for former Leaf blueliner Calle Rosen. The club also sent defenseman Jordan Schmaltz to the New York Islanders for forward Matt Lorito, forward Nick Baptiste to Ottawa for defenseman Miles Gendron, and obtained a 2020 fifth round pick from Vegas for a portion of the cap hit of goalie Robin Lehner and the rights to forward Martins Dzierkals.
The Leafs did shop defenseman Tyson Barrie before the deadline (Dubas reportedly was looking for a first round pick and prospect), but the fact that the pending UFA was put on the market only recently after many clubs had already added a rental blueliner, coupled with no one willing to meet the high asking price led to Toronto not pulling the trigger.
“The way you operate at the deadline is a byproduct of a number of things. Cap space being one function, the performance of the team being another, and then how different player injuries and their return to their lineup will impact the cap space in the remainder of the year, thus how we have to manage that. The confluence of all three of those things led to just some depth moves.” Dubas said on Monday.
It was clear based on the comments made after the deadline, that the Leafs GM was putting the onus and responsibility for the club’s roller coaster performance since early January squarely on the players and that it will be up to them to play with more consistency and get into the playoffs.
“We’ve shown enough throughout our run and since Sheldon has been at the helm to give you a great sense of optimism. We also have some games where we rightfully draw the doubts of a lot of people. The best way to put it is to use a Jekyll and Hyde way to describe it. I think it is up to our entire program — starting with me on to Sheldon and onto the players — to find our way out of it and be the best version of ourselves that we can every single day for our organization and our fan base in order to get where we want to go.” Dubas said about the club’s lack of consistency. “The truthful answer is we don’t know (why we are inconsistent). If we knew, we would go about it. It might draw some criticism to say I don’t know, but I am not going to come up and bullshit and tell you I have some magical solution. We have to go through this and we have to find a way to be our best on a daily basis.”
Toronto’s playoff chances may actually have improved on Monday, as the Florida Panthers appeared to get weaker after moving center Vincent Trocheck to Carolina for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark and two prospects, but that may not mean anything, even if they find a way to play better over the last 19 games. since the Leafs will be a decided underdog against Boston, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh or Washington.
The club’s biggest move was the announcement of a four-year extension for defenseman Jake Muzzin at $5.625 Million per season. The extension has been common knowledge for a few weeks and is considered a reasonable deal for the 31-year-old Cup winner.
“Jake’s importance here, especially as things haven’t gone well, is immense — on the ice and off. It was very apparent when he was out of the lineup that we missed him deeply. That was just at the time that we started to really kind of come out of the stretch where we were playing well coming out of the Christmas break. He got hurt in New Jersey. I think it was one of the key points to us starting to get out of the form we were in there. He adds a lot for us. We are thrilled to have him for what he brings on the ice and off.”
The deal gives Toronto more stability on the blueline for next season, with Morgan Rielly, Justin Holl, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren under contract and Travis Dermott a restricted free agent. Dubas did not elaborate on the future of Barrie and Cody Ceci, but it is a near certainty that both pending free agents will be playing elsewhere next season.
Toronto faces a difficult task the day after the deadline against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. The Lightning added defenseman Zach Bogosian and forward Barclay Goodrow on Monday, and both will make their Tampa Bay debut against the Leafs. Frederik Andersen will make his fourth straight start for Toronto, while Andrei Vasilevskiy will go for the Lightning.
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