Follow me on Twitter
A big thanks to gergeswillems for lending voice to my last post regarding Pittsburgh as a possible trade partner.
To his credit Dan Kingerski penned an article regarding the diminishing returns should Pitt move on from Matt Murray. Well done G!
A look at Toronto’s salary cap layout makes it very clear that changes are coming. An early exit to the post season (depending on your point of view) makes for easy finger pointing. The debate as to whether you can invest $40 million into 4 forwards comes back with a vengeance. An inordinate amount of criticism gets thrown at the goaltender in some cases, and the lack of defensive depth gets a significant amount of speculation as well. The team seems to be built to outscore its defensive woes. When on the cycle and in offensive territory, the Leafs look other worldly, at times like the Harlem Globetrotters. Wreaking havoc on the opponent and having a good time doing it. However, the script is flipped once offense has to turn into defense. Bad line changes, players without enough in the tank to back check, and disarray can be the result.
The issue for Toronto isn’t a lack of high end talent, not for a minute. The issue is having their highest skilled players all in one group. With a glaring need on defense, any dealings are going to be difficult. It’s essentially like going to a sale at a Ferrari lot. Most people don’t have the money to get through the door. The type of high end defenseman Toronto needs to find is the type and Caliber that Detroit simply cannot fill. Where Detroit can fit in is providing cap space for smaller deals that Dubas may have to facilitate. For this go-round, I reached out to Kooleus. We had some good back and forth and he came up with some scenarios that may actually work for Toronto and Detroit. Here’s his take:
Most people have suggested that fixing the Leafs roster involves acquiring a top pair defenseman by trading one of the 4 forwards that take up $40M of cap space. I’m not convinced Dubas can do this. Matthews isn’t going anywhere. Tavares has a NMC. Marner is a skilled winger, but not many teams have room for his $10.9M cap hit. His awful playoff performance would also leave some question marks. Nylander at $6.9M is more marketable. But Detroit doesn’t have a top pair defenseman that Toronto would be looking for. So there is no match here.
But Detroit does have something Toronto covets…cap space. The next trio of forwards – Kerfoot, Johnsson, and Kapanen – all carry a cap hit between $3.2M and $3.6M. Having middle 6 forwards at this salary is a luxury that the Leafs can no longer afford. Ilya Mikheyev will likely join them at this level. Zach Hyman is a UFA after the 2020-21 season and will most certainly earn well above this threshold. So the Leafs could keep their top 4 forwards and finally add a top pair defensemen via free agency. Pietrangelo is the big fish. Krug is another option. But doing so will require moving out some of these middle 6 forwards. Again, this is where Detroit can be an excellent trading partner.
Kapanen or Johnsson would improve the skill of the Wings forward group. They are the same age as Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi. They are under contract for 2-3 more years. Either of them could slide into a 2nd line winger role, and as other prospects continue to improve, they have the versatility to slide down to a 3rd line role in time. Toronto would be looking for a warm body, on a cheap contract, and ideally someone who provides some grit, determination, leadership, blocks shots, wins faceoffs (ie all the little things that stats bloggers don’t value). Luke Glendening fits that criteria. If Detroit retains 50% of his $1.8M cap hit, then a Glendening for Kapanen swap saves Toronto $2.3M in cap space. Glendening for Johnsson saves $2.5M. That’s the space Toronto desperately needs to invest on the blueline. Yzerman may even pry a draft pick out of Dubas if we retain salary on Glendening.
Losing Glendening opens up a 4th line roster spot for guys like Smith, Rasmussen, Ehn, and Erne to compete for. We’ll miss Luke’s leadership, but the opportunity to upgrade our skill level is worth it.
A big thanks to Kooleus for taking time to put this together. I, personally, would love to see Detroit get Hyman. He’s the kind of player I love to watch. Take a look and let me know what you think. Detroit’s strength is coming directly from letting contracts expire and allowing cap space to accrue.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»