We should all be very willing to give credit to what Troy Stecher has done during his time as a Toronto Maple Leaf. The undrafted defender was claimed off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers almost a year ago (Nov 15) and has been a good soldier for the team from day one. Former GM Brad Treliving brought him in, but current GM John Chayka re-signed him to a 2 year deal with a $1.35M caphit, which was a vote of confidence as the regime turned over. His coaches appear to love him and based on this reaction from the Leafs bench after his last minute goal against his former team on Saturday night, his teammates love him too:
Over the past 6 games Stecher has played at least 20 minutes a night, with a season high 26:25 TOI coming on Oct 20th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. During those 6 games his counting stats are solid, with 2 goals, 4pts, a +6 rating, 7 blocked shots and 2 game winning goals. Quite the stat line for a veteran player that was obtained for free. More importantly, he appears to have earned more trust from his coaches, which may ease the burden on Chris Tanev once he returns, which could be as early as this coming weekend. Should Stecher take some of the minutes that Tanev would normally play, it could ease the punishment that Tanev’s body is subjected to and keep him healthier for longer. Maybe. Hopefully.
In the meantime it’s still being reported that the team is searching for more help on the blueline.
While the right side of the ice appears to be unspectacular but solid, the left side still appears to be missing an extra piece. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has regressed a little under Hiller, which could be a result of his lack of top end skating speed and this teams new adherence to a speed based attack. That’s not to say that OEL has been especially poor, but simply that he appears to have played better under Craig Berube’s system than Jim Hiller’s. This has many wondering if moving on from OEL and replacing him with a younger player that is more capable of keeping up to the play will be the course that Chayka takes.
While I would argue that Morgan Rielly is still the defender to move on from, I also have to wonder what he’d think about that now, after the team appears to be gelling well in the locker room as well as on the ice. Last season was tough on everybody, as the team landed near the bottom of the league standings. This prompted trade speculation around Rielly, who was reportedly willing to waive his NMC for the right situation. Just because he was willing to move on last spring doesn’t mean he still feels the same way and with 10 assists in 14 games to start the season, he may believe that staying with the only team he’s ever played for in the NHL is the right thing for him and his family right now.
OEL on the other hand has a 16 team no-trade list, which could certainly make dealing him difficult, but not impossible. The trick is finding a team that he’d be willing to move to, while also believing that said team has what the Leafs may want and be willing to make a deal.
The Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins are off to a rough start to the season. There’s obviously a lot of games left to play before they decide to start selling, but if/when they do it could mean that Chayka has found a good trading partner. The Penguins have a couple of players that are pending UFAs, while they also have more that could be moved for the right return.
Erik Karlsson
The big fish would be Karlsson. Many have speculated that because Karlsson has a close relationship to Daniel Alfredsson, who is the associate coach in Toronto now and Karlsson’s former teammate, that the offensive defender would be more than willing to join the Leafs for a chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Obviously I’d be the first to argue that Karlsson brings far too much of the same game as Darren Raddysh and Morgan Rielly to the team and that may not be what the Leafs would want. The obvious solution is one that would contradict what I said above and that would be to ask Rielly to join his former GM, Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh and hope that he’s willing to make that move. Barring that scenario, I simply don’t see the fit for Karlsson but will play devil’s advocate anyway.
Darren Raddysh was brought in to help boost the 1st powerplay unit after a breakout season with Tampa last year. So far he hasn’t lived up to those lofty numbers. He has only 6 assists in 14 games to date, with 4 of those points coming on the powerplay. He is 5th on the team in shots with 32, but hasn’t managed to pot a goal yet. After scoring 22 goals last season, this was a big part of why he was brought in, as the Leafs have been missing a heavy shot from the point for years now. The hope here is that once he does score, which he eventually will, that the flood gates will open and they’ll start going in more often, but if that simply doesn’t happen then it’s fair to wonder if the team will keep looking for that powerplay quarterback with a heavy shot. That’s what Karlsson brings to the table, as he has scored at least 10 goals a year for the past 5 seasons and loves to shoot the puck. He leads the Penguins in scoring to date, with 1 goal and 12pts in 12 games.
If Morgan Rielly were to move in the trade then this is something worth looking into, but even that may be a hard sell. From the Penguins point of view it may be a viable move. Evgeni Malkin is 40 years old and may be in his final season in the NHL. Sidney Crosby is 39 and is a UFA at season’s end. Eric Karlsson is a pending UFA, while veteran Kris Letang is signed through next season, which will almost certainly be his final NHL campaign. Past next season the Penguins have just two defenders signed and they are Ryan Graves and Kaedan Korczak. In a nutshell, there is about to be plenty of room on the roster for Rielly’s $7.5M caphit and even more opportunity for a guy to run their powerplay and rebuild his game. The management team there may see a buy low asset that they can flip for a healthy return down the line.
However, all of those things are exactly why Rielly may refuse to go to Pittsburgh. At 32 years old, Rielly is closer to the end of his career than the beginning and he has yet to win a Championship. With an ancient core that is on the cusp of riding into the sunset, the Penguins don’t offer much in terms of a successful future.
Samuel Girard
Girard is an interesting player that nobody appears to be talking about. Once thought to be a player that could evolve into an offensive threat, Girard has settled into more of a two-way player as his career has progressed. He had a hot start to the season with 1 goal and 7pts in 9 games before being sidelined with an undisclosed injury, but he’s actually closer to Troy Stecher in terms of style of play than he is Morgan Rielly. He doesn’t play the physical type of game in which he’ll rack up hits, but he will block shots, help the penalty kill and is an above average skater in terms of speed. His 5’10” 180lb stature isn’t ideal, especially on a team that just made a sharp turn away from bigger, stronger defenders, but he can defend and exit the zone and that is what John Chayka is rumoured to be in the market for.
Girard is a pending UFA with a $5M caphit, which should be easy enough for them to fit under the cap with a little retention. He shouldn’t cost a fortune to obtain, especially considering the fact that the Colorado Avalanche had to attach a 2nd round selection to him last season in order to get clear of his caphit. The question is a simple one with Girard. After years of playing over 20 minutes a night in a top 4 role with the Avalanche, has Girard rebuilt his game to a point where he’d be a valuable asset to the Leafs?
Declan Carlile
This would be more of an under-the-radar top 4 player, as he doesn’t have a long track record of playing big minutes and doesn’t have a ton of NHL experience. However, Carlile is playing almost 19 minutes a night for the Penguins and is 2nd in hits with 12 and 1st in blocked shots with 22. His 5.79 BLK/60 would rank 3rd on the Leafs among their regular blueliners, behind only Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev and he has logged heavy minutes to date on their penalty kill. He was buried behind a deep Tampa Bay blueline last season, but like Raddysh, you have to wonder if there’s a late blooming defender there that’s capable of playing on your 2nd pair. Carlile is on the younger side as well, at just 26 years of age and is signed to a friendly $1.5M caphit for this season and next. Lastly, he would add some size to the blueline, as he stands at 6’3″ 195lbs.
The biggest issue for me is his lack of experience. With just 58 regular season and 2 playoff games under his belt at the NHL level, Carlile may not handle the pressure of playoff hockey in Toronto all that well. He’s less of an ideal fit and more of a depth addition for a team with aspirations to contend, but his profile reads like one that the Leafs are rumoured to have interest in so I wanted to include him in the discussion.
I suspect that any player you want to mention from the Penguins blueline is fair game. While some of the younger players like Kaedan Korczak may be in their long term plans, any of their aging defenders could be on the move. Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Sam Girard, Ryan Graves (if he ever returns) and Trevor Van Riemsdyk top the list of possible moves they could make in terms of selling defenders, but none are exactly ideal for the Leafs in my opinion.
With that said, it’s always worth discussing.