Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving pulled off the unthinkable late Thursday night; he got something useful for a player who outlived his usefulness (and in the minds of some, never did). The Leafs swapped aging enforcer Ryan Reaves to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Henry Thrun.
Thrun, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks out of the US National Development Program, and played three seasons at Harvard University, but was dealt by Anaheim to the Sharks in February 2023 out of fear that the young blueliner would not sign with the defensively deep Ducks.
With the Sharks, Thrun has played 119 games over three seasons, compiling 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) and 46 penalty minutes, and last season averaged over 17 minutes per game. The 6’2”, 210 lb. defenseman is known as a good puck mover who makes smart decisions.
Sharks GM Mike Grier was busy this month adding veterans to his blueline, signing Dmitri Orlov to a two-year deal, John Klingberg to a one-year deal, and claiming Nick Leddy off of waivers from St. Louis to get over the salary cap floor.
The club also has Mario Ferraro, former Leaf Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, and 23-year-old Shakir Mukhamadullin on the roster, and 2024 first-rounder Sam Dickinson in the pipeline, leaving Thrun, making $1 million in the final year of a two-year contract, fighting for playing time.
The acquisition is another good bet by Treliving on a young defenseman, similar to the one he made two years ago with Simon Benoit, and with four Leafs blueliners over the age of 30, having depth will be a prerequisite.
The surprising aspect of this deal is that any club would have interest in Reaves, a player so painfully slow that his presence on the ice on the Leafs fourth line seemed to result in a goal for the opposition on most nights and last season that realization became apparent when he was waived to the AHL to make cap space at the trade deadline.
The thought on the part of San Jose is not going to be a playoff team, so they need Reaves in the lineup to be the sheriff and keep other teams in line, but that was not the case at all last season, when the former enforcer had one fight all season and was basically ignored by the opposition because they wanted him on the ice.
