The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their four-game road swing in Western Canada against the Vancouver Canucks, one of the few clubs in the NHL that has begun selling in advance of the March 6th trade deadline. The Canucks have already dealt Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes in a massive deal with Minnesota, since they could not get an indication from Hughes that he would sign a contract extension this July.
At this point, the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Chicago Blackhawks could join the Canucks as sellers in the Western Conference. Vancouver is reportedly open to anyone, including wingers Conor Garland, Evander Kane, and center Teddy Blueger. The Blues are rumored to be shopping center Robert Thomas and defenseman Justin Faulk, but a deal for Thomas is more likely to be something pulled off in the summer.
Calgary has already dealt pending UFA blueliner Rasmus Andersson, and is rumored to be open to shopping former Leaf Nazem Kadri and veteran Blake Coleman, but both have term remaining, so there is no rush unless an interested club meets their asking price.
Winnipeg is unlikely to deal any of their core group, and has veterans like Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, and Logan Stanley on the market, while the Hawks have six pending UFA’s, including former Leafs Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Nick Foligno, veteran Jason Dickinson, and defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Connor Murphy. Nashville, San Jose, and Anaheim are still within distance of a playoff spot, which could make these teams buyers in the next few weeks.
In the East, the success of four teams (Montreal, Boston, Buffalo, and the NY Islanders) and the corresponding struggles of teams like the Leafs, Philadelphia, Washington, and Ottawa, have widened the gap in the playoff race from eight to 10 points. The Leafs six-game losing streak has, for all intents and purposes, ended any realistic hope of making the playoffs for the 10th season in a row.
Toronto finds itself a club without much draft capital the next two seasons, with very little prospects in the American Hockey League, and an aging NHL roster, something that GM Brad Treliving appears to be aware of.
“We’re in a different position than we’ve been in in the past. So you take all of that information, you’re continually talking throughout the league and seeing what’s in front of you, but you’re planning based upon where your team’s sitting and what you think is in front of you,” Treliving said on TSN 1050 Radio on Thursday. So it’s the combination of where the games sit leading up to the deadline. But you’ve also got four months of information already in the rearview mirror, and you make decisions accordingly.”
The Leafs have a number of assets they could sell, and those assets could be attractive to playoff contenders willing to trade draft picks and prospects to restock the shelves and clear cap space for summer maneuvers. The question of whether Treliving should be allowed to make these moves has been brought up. Toronto allowed lame duck GM Dave Nonis to deal defenseman Cody Franson and winger Mike Santorelli to Nashville for a 2015 first-round pick, and Daniel Winnik to Pittsburgh for a pair of draft picks.
This week, Toronto moved both defenseman Chris Tanev and forward Dakota Joshua from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve, which conceivably could open up close to $8 million in cap space if they are placed on season-ending LTIR. With the prospect of adding players out of the question, it is possible that Treliving and the Leafs could be in the business of taking on salary from contending clubs to enable them to make moves, selling cap space for draft picks.
If you combine that with the potential moves of pending UFA Bobby McMann, and others like Brandon Carlo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Matias Maccelli, Calle Jarnkrok, and Simon Benoit, Toronto could take on more contracts in the short term, while being able to add prospects and more draft capital, but that require them to be decisive and move in advance of those Western clubs and teams like Philadelphia, Ottawa, and the NY Rangers in the East.
William Nylander is expected to return to the Leafs lineup after missing seven games with a groin injury. He will replace rookie Easton Cowan in the lineup, who is a healthy scratch. Marshall Rifai, who was called up on Wednesday, will make his first start of the season in the bottom pairing with Troy Stecher. Joseph Woll will start for Toronto after another struggling performance by Anthony Stolarz on Thursday in Seattle.
