The Toronto Maple Leafs have less than two months to determine whether they will qualify the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the battle with five clubs (Florida, Columbus, Carolina, and Philadelphia) for third place in the Atlantic Division and the two Eastern Conference wildcard spots could come down to what these teams add or don’t add before the February 24th trade deadline.
Columbus has over $20 Million in deadline cap space after the departure of Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Dzingel, and Sergei Bobrovsky last summer, and could use help at forward and defense with the injuries to Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones, but GM Jarmo Kekalanien does not have second and third-round picks in 2020 and his second-rounder in 2021 to shop, which are usually the picks dealt for quality rentals.
Philadelphia is looking for help up the middle behind Sean Couturier and Kevin Hayes, but the deadline center market is thin and the Flyers are tight against the cap, which will limit the options for GM Chuck Fletcher.
The Hurricanes, Panthers, and Leafs are all looking for help on the blueline. Carolina lost Dougie Hamilton for the season, may not think prospect Jake Bean is ready for a primary role, and can’t be happy with prized free-agent signing Jake Gardiner’s -21 plus/minus and subpar offensive output.
The Panthers are a carbon copy of Toronto, boasting a top-five offense and a porous defense that has allowed over 200 goals. GM Dale Tallon is reportedly seeking a veteran blueliner to play alongside former Calder winner Aaron Ekblad, but to accomplish that he may have to sell Mike Hoffman to open up room to add defensive help.
The Leafs are down two veteran defensemen in Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci. After being checked out this week, Rielly is on track to return before the end of the regular season, but Ceci’s high-ankle sprain will not be reevaluated until mid-March. GM Kyle Dubas cannot use the cap space opened up by both being on long-term injured reserve to add players before the deadline.
The knee injury to Andreas Johnsson on Thursday has changed the Leafs cap dilemma. The winger is expected to be out for eight weeks recovering from surgery and with seven weeks remaining in the regular season, the Leafs will be able to use the cap space opened by placing his $3.4 Million cap hit on LTIR at the trade deadline.
Rumors continue to percolate that Dubas is interested in Minnesota blueliner Matt Dumba (who is signed through 2023 at an AAV of $6 Million), but the Wild are reportedly looking for a top-line or second-line center for the 25-year-old defenseman.
The Leafs were once limited to making a “hockey deal” for blueline help, moving out a significant salary like Alex Kerfoot or Kasperi Kapanen until the Johnsson injury, but if they are unable to pull that difficult task in the next week, the rental market for defensive help is now a realistic option.
The only limitation for Dubas may be the hesitancy to trade another draft pick after trading a pair of picks in the trade for Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford and a first-round pick to Carolina for Patrick Marleau. The Leafs have multiple picks in the fourth, sixth and seventh rounds in 2020 which they may be willing to move, but that would have likely have to be the throw-in along with a prospect to get a player that would impact the Leafs fortunes.
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The Leafs begin a weekend back-to-back against the Ottawa Senators in Kanata, ON on Saturday. Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated that backup Jack Campbell will get the start against the Sens and starter Frederik Andersen will go in against the Sabres on Sunday in Buffalo.
After breaking up the “Extension Line” of William Nylander, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner in the third period on Thursday, Keefe is expected to reunite the trio on Saturday. The injury to Johnsson and the demotion of Pontus Aberg to the AHL Marlies has caused a shuffle of the third and fourth lines, with Pierre Engvall moving up to take Johnsson’s spot with Jason Spezza and Kasperi Kapanen, and Frederik Gauthier and Dmytro Timashov playing with Clifford.
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