Why the Maple Leafs can't simply trade their way out of defence problems
There has been a growing opinion in the Toronto market that Leafs GM John Chayka has no choice but to trade for a defenceman.
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The refrain has been getting louder in the market: “The Maple Leafs need to trade for a defenceman.”
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With their best performer in the blue-line corps, veteran Chris Tanev, out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis — the latest prognosis revealed by the team on Thursday morning — the Leafs are going to be in tough for the foreseeable future.
An addition to the group via trade wouldn’t necessarily help that.
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Would a new defenceman, no matter who it is, result in Morgan Rielly making better decisions or Darren Raddysh becoming a defensive stalwart or add a half-step to 35-year-old Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
Would a new defenceman make it clear to the club’s forwards that providing better support for the D corps on a consistent basis has to be a priority? Or would he make a generally slow group that much quicker?
We think you know the answers.
And keep in mind that it’s not like the Leafs are one different defenceman away from being Stanley Cup contenders.
What would the Leafs have to give up?
If you’re thinking that adding new blood on the blue line would result in a major change in the way that the Leafs, who have given up 71 high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five (tied for sixth-most in the National Hockey League) defend, then there would have to be a fairly substantial package going the other way.
But general manager John Chayka doesn’t have a bushel of assets at his disposal. Adding a truly impactful defenceman would probably mean trading 21-year-old forward Easton Cowan, which would be risky at best.
Chayka sent his top asset out the door when he dealt Matthew Knies to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a multi-player swap in late September that brought Kirill Marchenko to Toronto.
At some point, the Leafs have to stop trading young players who have a bright future. Take a look at what Fraser Minten is doing for the Boston Bruins. You could argue that the Leafs, in the long term, won’t be a ton better off with Marchenko than they would have been had they kept Knies.
The money alone — Marchenko with a $12.5 million US average annual value for six years kicking in next season, compared to a Knies’ AAV of $7.75 million through 2030-31 — already is a bit difficult to digest.
Trading a first-round pick isn’t necessarily an option, as the Leafs already have dealt their 2027 and 2028 first-rounders. They have Colorado’s 2027 first-rounder, but the pick in all likelihood won’t come until later in the round. It’s top-10 protected anyway.
Chayka already was in search mode for a new defenceman before Tanev got hurt on an innocent-looking play on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche. The Leafs are well aware, and have been for a while, that they’re not good enough on the back end.
Having returned home from a three-game trip that resulted in a 1-1-1 record for three points, the Leafs play host to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena to start a three-game home stand.
Where does Hiller land on the defence corps?
For Toronto coach Jim Hiller, who repeated on Thursday morning that he didn’t like the way the team played in a 5-4 loss in Utah against the Mammoth on Tuesday, there remains belief in the defence corps — even with taking into account an absence for Tanev that will be longer than initially thought.
“What I was disappointed about a little bit on the trip is we hung our defencemen out to dry a little bit as a group of forwards with some turnovers, with some tracking,” Hiller said. “Prior to going out, I thought we really were supporting our defence, getting back hard, not giving up odd-man rushes, and that was a little bit of the opposite on that road trip.
“You have to help your defence. I don’t care who’s in. That’s a little bit more on our forwards.”
Fact is, there are no easy answers for the Leafs in regard to the D corps and how the club performs defensively as a whole.
Having been an assistant coach with the Leafs from 2015-19, Hiller was fully aware of the noise in the market before he was hired in June to run the bench.
Where does he stand, we asked him, on the growing notion that the Leafs need to acquire a defenceman?
“Not my job, first of all,” Hiller said, “and I think there’s always a lot of noise about something. So I’m not going to pay too much attention to it right now.
“I’m comfortable, for sure (with the defence group). Tanny’s a good player. That’s well-established.
“But we have other good players. We just have to help them out a little bit.”
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