What price will the Toronto Maple Leafs be willing to pay for a top-four defenseman? TSN’s Pierre LeBrun indicates in his column in The Athletic that the club would be willing to part with the club’s 2019 first round pick as part of a deal that would provide an upgrade to their blueline.
The Leafs have a short window with a significant amount of available cap space this season (around $6 Million) and could open up even more room by moving injured forward Nathan Horton’s contract to long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which could accommodate a top pairing blueliner like the Blues Alex Pietrangelo, Carolina’s Dougie Hamilton or a top-four defender like Vancouver’s Chris Tanev.
Acquiring a first might be attractive to team like St. Louis, who moved their first (lottery protected) to Buffalo in the Ryan O’Reilly deal last summer or the Canucks, who are rebuilding but still in the mix for a Western Conference playoff spot, while the Hurricanes are reportedly looking for a scoring forward in exchange for one of their defensemen.
A deal for Pietrangelo or Hamilton would likely cost more than just a top pick (which I categorized as a “Level A” prospect in my list of Leafs assets last week) and would likely have to include another “Level A” player or prospect and perhaps another youngster.
If the Leafs believe that price is too steep, than Tanev or a comparable top-four option could cost them a conditional first based on how far Toronto goes in the postseason and a Level B or C prospect.
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The Leafs practiced at Mastercard Centre on Wednesday prior to departing for Tampa Bay (where they will face the league-leading Lightning on Thursday). Head coach Mike Babcock once again juggled his lines in hopes to kickstarting some of his struggling forwards.
One of the combinations was quite familiar, as Zach Hyman was reunited with Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Andreas Johnsson took Hyman’s place on the left side with John Tavares and Mitch Marner, and Patrick Marleau skated with Nazem Kadri and Kasperi Kapanen.
Hyman had spent the entire season with Tavares and Marner, expect for the three weeks he missed with an ankle injury and a two-game suspension for elbowing Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, but Tavares and Marner continued to produce at a healthy pace with other linemates.
Matthews has scored just one goal in the last 10 games and Nylander has just one goal in 17 games since returning from a contract impasse and Babcock may think that the familiarity with Hyman may help them break out of their recent slump, but the Leafs head coach did not commit to the new line combinations after practice.
“I don’t know what I’m doing (on Thursday).” Babcock said. “We took a look at it today. We’ve been hit or miss since Christmastime, we didn’t feel our work ethic was up to a level to be proud of in the last game as a group. What makes that happen and what makes a group go? You don’t always know, but if it is just changing some lines around, we’ll do that.”
The Leafs prospects value chart
Level “A”
2019 first round pick - which will likely fall anywhere from the mid-20’s to 31.
2020 first round pick - which if dealt would have to be lottery protected to avoid any Ottawa Senators-like disaster scenario
Timothy Liljegren - 2017 first round pick (17th overall), 19-year-old blueliner with over 60 games of professional experience in the AHL.
Kasperi Kapanen - 2014 first rounder (22nd overall), 22-year-old winger has proved himself at the NHL level with 15 goals this season, and that may be the reason why the Leafs will not be interested in trading him.
Rasmus Sandin - 2018 first round pick (29th overall), 18-year-old defenseman who jumped from the OHL to the Marlies and scored 10 points in 18 games prior to playing for Sweden at the 2019 World Junior. (currently out injured)
Level “B”
Andreas Johnsson - The Calder Cup Playoff MVP started slow but now has 19 points with the Leafs and has the speed that most NHL clubs are looking for.
Jeremy Bracco - 2015 second round pick (61st overall), the highly skilled 21-year-old winger is pushing towards being a Level A prospect, he also has a Memorial Cup and World Junior Championship on his list of accomplishments.
Carl Grundstrom - 2016 second round pick (57th overall) - 21-year-old was key contributor on the Marlies top line with Johnsson and Miro Aaltonen on their run to a Calder Cup Championship and has continued to play well in his first full AHL season.
2019 or 2020 second round pick
Level “C”
Forwards
Trevor Moore - free agent signing selected as AHL All-Star, leads the Marlies in goal scoring.
Dmytro Timashov - skillful 22-year-old winger in his third AHL season, on pace for career-high in points.
Pierre Engvall - 22-year-old winger with NHL size and good speed, but is a project in need of more experience.
Mason Marchment - big 23-year-old winger who plays with an edge and whose skills have improved immensely over the last two years.
Yegor Korshkov - big skilled 22-year-old winger who has been in the KHL since being selected at the top of the second round in 2016. Unknown commodity who has never played in North America.
Defense
Calle Rosen - 24 years old, Swedish blueliner signed as free agent out of the SHL, leads Marlies in defensive scoring.
Andreas Borgman - hard hitting blueliner who play half of last season in the NHL.
Goalie
Joseph Woll - 2016 third round pick who won gold for Team USA at the 2017 World Junior and enjoying a good junior season at Boston College.
Ian Scott - 2017 fourth round pick. The 19-year-old made Team Canada at the 2019 World Junior based on his phenomenal performance this season with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders.
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