While so much attention is given to William Nylander and his inevitable overpayment of a new contract, because, lets face it, as soon as he signs his 8 year, $88 million extension (which has been my prediction for a calendar year now), we all know he’s going to regress back to his low effort, uninspired play and will immediately fall into the overpaid category, I’ve been doing nothing but wishing for 2-3 blueline additions.
Unfortunately the time to trade one of the “core 4” forwards to address this issue has likely passed. John Tavares, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner all hold full no-movement clauses. That dreaded “NMC” next to a players name on capfriendly.com (where I get all of my contract related information) is often glazed over when we talk about trades, but they’re far more important than some would lead you to believe.
The only member of the core 4 that doesn’t have full trade protection is William Nylander, who possesses a modified no-trade clause, in which he is able to list 10 teams he is not willing to accept a trade to. While this means that GM Brad Treliving has the option to trade Nylander to 21 teams in the league, it’s unlikely that he’d get full value for the star forward, even if he is playing the best hockey of his career right now.
That isn’t to say that they couldn’t get a lot of assets in return, I’m sure they could, but the fact that Nylander doesn’t have any term and could walk away from the acquiring organization for free a few months from now would likely make a lot of GM’s nervous about anteing up big assets in order to acquire him. On top of that, if the Leafs decided to start shopping him now, it would indicate to other teams that he is being unreasonable in his contract demands, which would likely scare them away even more. Lastly, because there are so many teams that are tight to the cap ceiling as a result of the flat cap over the past few years, it’s tough to say how many could even entertain the idea of adding a $7M player to their roster. It would likely mean the Leafs would have to take back as much as they send out, which in and of itself can be a challenge.
The time to trade him and maximize the return would have been at the 2023 draft or before, but I digress.
This is supposed to be about the Leafs and what defensive options might be available to them, so I’m going to dive into that.
The Calgary Flames
We may as well start with the Flames, because their organization is coming apart at the seams and that is mostly due to the previous GM, who elected to hire a head coach that essentially engineered the worst possible work atmosphere you could imagine. That same GM also signed some players to panic-move deals that were too high and too long, which has left the current GM with multiple players requesting trades out of town and some contracts that he would likely be glad to get rid of.
I’m very happy that we don’t have a GM that could make a mess of things like that. What a disaster that could be.
Option 1: Noah Hanifin has asked to leave Calgary and the rumour is that he’d very much like to head back to the United States. The Boston native will probably end up signing with his hometown team because damnit(!!), but there was a fleeting rumour that of all the Canadian cities in the league, he’d consider Toronto as a possible destination as well. While the idea of having to convince a player to stay in Toronto isn’t appealing, having somebody on the blueline that can skate for 23 solid minutes a night is.
Option 2: Mackenzie Weegar, my favourite option from Calgary, was once offered to the Leafs in exchange for Andreas Johnsson and Travis Dermott, but the Leafs rejected the offer. These are the types of things that make me want to slam my head against the wall until my ears bleed, because Weegar is exactly the kind of player the Leafs are missing. He spends more time on the penalty kill than the powerplay, has a heavy shot from the point, can play against top competition, isn’t afraid to engage physically and is signed long term at $6.25M per season. While his age (29) and the length of his contract (7 more seasons after this one) might scare some people away, my hope would be that the rising cap would make that deal look very reasonable in its final years, which would allow them to move him to another team or keep him, as it could match his play even if he does regress. He does possess a full NTC, but it appears that the Flames may be in a situation where asking players to waive their no-trade protection would be expected.
Option 3: Chris Tanev might be my second favourite option (3rd if Hanifin is against staying in Toronto) due to the fact that he can, and has played big minutes on a competitive team. I am fully of the opinion that the Leafs need a true top 4 defender (2 actually) in order to even pretend to be serious about winning the Stanley Cup (okay, maybe 3) and Tanev would help with that. He’s 33 years of age, so there are some miles on him, but that could make him cheaper to acquire and retain. He’s a Toronto native that is willing to do this:
After he does that, he has things like this to say about it:
On second thought, maybe Tanev is my favourite option for the Leafs. If you could bottle a fraction of that passion and feed it to the prima donnas in the Leafs dressing room they’d be an unstoppable force come playoff season.
Option 4: Obviously there has been a ton of talk about Nikita Zadorov and rightly so. At 6’6″ 235lbs, Zadorov is a monstrous player. He hits hard, skates well and brings so many things that the Leafs don’t have. He’s exactly the type of player that I’ve been raving about for the last 10+ years and they should absolutely obtain him. The only thing that worries me is the rumour that he “believes he’s a #2/3 defender” which could mean that he wants to get paid as such without proving it first. We all know that if you want to get paid on what you could possibly bring to a club then Toronto is the place to go, which worries me even more. How much does he ask for next season? $5M? More? I’d certainly like to talk to his agent before trading for him, but if he could play 20 safe minutes a night, while bringing that physical element, it would be worth that much.
Andrew Peeke
I’m not exactly sure what has happened to Andrew Peeke, but he has certainly fallen out of favour in Columbus. He played over 21 minutes per night last season, but is playing less than 15 minutes a night this year when he’s dressed, which is rare. He has dressed for just 4 games this season, which obviously sets off a lot of red flags. A primary penalty killer in previous seasons for the Blue Jackets, it appears that the additions of Damon Severson, Ivan Provorov and the rise of David Jiricek have bounced him very far down their depth chart. What’s also sad is that he would likely be the best right shot defender in the Leafs system (and they call the Leafs a contender). He’s big and rangy and can defend his own end, is locked in at $2.75M for 2 more seasons after this one and would be cheap to acquire. While all of the Flames defenders would be preferable to me, there’s a chance that this could be a very savvy move for the organization.
Logan Stanley
Stanley is in the same vein as Peeke in the sense that he has mostly been a healthy scratch for his current team, the Winnipeg Jets, but might find a better opportunity here. The Kitchener native stands at 6’7″ 230lbs and would fall into the bottom of the roster. While he isn’t a top 4 defender, he may still have some untapped potential and would bring the frame and style of game that would come in handy come playoff time.
Cam Fowler
A name that hasn’t been brought up much, but one that should be considered if the Ducks make him available, is Cam Fowler. While he doesn’t hit a lot, he does everything else you could possibly ask of a player. He can produce 40pts a year, plays a ton of minutes in all situations, has good size at 6’2″ 215lbs, is a fine skater and is a leader on his club. He has 2 more years on his contract after this one as well, so he wouldn’t be a rental. He’d be a legitimate top 4 defender on a club that has far too few of them.
Sean Walker
The time to trade for Walker was when the L.A. Kings were trying to bust open some cap space last spring, but John Klingberg was just too enticing I guess. Walker is playing more minutes than he ever has before (generally 22-24 a night), is a good penalty killer, a secondary powerplay option, skates well, isn’t afraid to block shots, is just 29 years old and has a contract that you could fit into a tight cap situation easily enough ($2.65M this year, is UFA this summer). While he isn’t the biggest player, he’s the type that won’t back down and will bring everything he has to the ice come spring time. He ticks so many boxes that I actually believe that the Flyers will re-sign him.
Rasmus Ristolainen
We’ll end this with two defenders from the Flyers. While I’d consider Walker to be a low risk addition, Ristolainen would be the opposite. At $5.1M per season and with 3 more season’s after this year on his deal, the Leafs would be taking on a fairly hefty contract. While Ristolainen brings the desired size, grit and a heavy shot to the team, he is subject to miscue’s and defensive breakdowns at times. He has always played on poor teams, which is partly the reason for his career -176 (What?!?!?!) rating. However, I’ve been curious about Ristolainen for years now, as he has never skated in a playoff game but plays a style that would thrive at that time of year. I know that asking teams to retain 50% has become a bit of a joke and the Flyers are already retaining for the next 2 years on Kevin Hayes, but if the Leafs could add Ristolainen at a cheaper number, then the benefits start to outweigh the risks to me.