With the the Olympics in Sochi getting down to the elimination round starting on Tuesday, NHL teams are starting to readying themselves for the stretch run after a brief respite.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not expected to be big players in the trade market before the March 5th deadline unless the stars align for an available top pairing defenseman or first line center.
As with players like Jerry D’Amigo and Josh Leivo at forward who may be ready to challenge for jobs as soon as next fall, the Leafs also have young blueline depth that could factor in as depth defensemen on their roster or as part of offseason trades to bring in an established veteran.
On the Marlies, 24-year-old TJ Brennan is having a fantastic offensive year with 20 goals and 32 assists and was named an AHL All-Star, but is still a question mark defensively and still has to improve that side of his game to be an effective NHLer. Brennan is an RFA at the end of this season.
Rookies Petter Granberg and Andrew MacWilliam have made strides in their first professional season, the 21-year-old Swedish import has adapted well to the North American game after playing a year with Skelleftea in the SHL and leads the Marlies with a +16 plus/minus. The former North Dakota blueliner appears to have the skating ability to make the NHL and plays a tough game conducive to Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle’s tendencies, but is strictly a stay-at-home defenseman, with five assists in 39 games.
Stuart Percy is growing and maturing in his first full AHL season and has one goal and 11 assists in 45 games, but the former 25th overall pick appears to be a solid intelligent all-around defenseman, but not great at one particular aspect of the game that would hasten his path to the big leagues.
With Matt Finn having a great year with the OHL’s Guelph Storm, 2011 draft pick Tom Nilsson likely coming over from Sweden next season and big defenseman Eric Knodel in his senior season at New Hampshire, the prospect pipeline continues to flow, which is a good problem for Leafs GM Dave Nonis to have.
The Leafs will likely part ways with Paul Ranger after the season and there are questions whether they are willing to pay Jake Gardiner big money after his entry-level deal expires this summer, so there may be an opportunity for the likes of Granberg, Brennan and MacWilliam.
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