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Does Dion deal open up defensive trade market???; Leafs vs. Blue Jackets

February 14, 2018, 1:02 PM ET [706 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to make it a clean sweep of their five-game homestand as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday. The Leafs bounced back after surrendering a three-goal lead against Tampa Bay on Monday, as James van Riemsdyk’s 23rd goal of the season was the difference maker in a 4-3 victory over the NHL’s point leader.

Columbus is in the thick of the playoff race, trailing Philadelphia for third place in the Metropolitan Division by four points and are within two points of New Jersey and Carolina for the Eastern Conference wild card spots.

The Blue Jackets arrived in Toronto early Wednesday morning after a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders in Brooklyn. Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in the victory and it is likely that backup Joonas Korpisalo get the start against the Leafs, but Columbus coach John Tortorella went back-to-back with his starter against Toronto in early January and the former Vezina winner made 35 saves in a 3-2 Jackets overtime victory.

Leafs head coach Mike Babcock will stick with the same lineup against Columbus, with Frederik Andersen making his sixth straight start and veteran Roman Polak paired with rookie blueliner Travis Dermott.

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Less than a week after the second anniversary of the deal that sent Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa, the rebuilding Sens shipped the former Leafs captain to the Los Angeles Kings along with Nate Thompson for forwards Marian Gaborik and Nick Shore.

The Kings have reportedly been interested in Phaneuf going back to his tenure with the Leafs, but that deal would have necessitated Toronto retaining a significant portion of his $7 Million AAV or taking back a contract with term remaining.

The Sens had to do both to move the final three years of the seven-year, $49 Million contract, retaining 25% of Phaneuf’s salary and taking back the 36-year-old Gaborik, who has a $4.875 Million cap hit until 2021.

The details of the trade make it even more remarkable that the Leafs did not have to retain one dollar of the five remaining years on Phaneuf’s deal when they dealt him in February 2016 and only have the $750,000 from Jared Cowen’s buyout still on the books.

The question is whether this deal starts to shake things loose on the defensive trade market in advance of February 26th and will that have ramifications for the Leafs, who need to upgrade their blueline.

The Phaneuf trade is more of a hockey deal and does not affect the rental market, other than it takes the Kings out of it after satisfying their need to bolster their blueline.

One less suitor for pending free agent defensemen Mike Green and Erik Gudbranson or those with limited term remaining (Ryan McDonagh, Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Niklas Hjalmarsson) could step up the urgency of teams to get a deal done before their options are gone.

Toronto appears to be more interested in players like Hjalmarsson (who has a year left at $4.1 Million and is rumored to want out of Arizona) than rentals like Green (who could cost a low first round pick), but might nibble on a Gudbranson if the cost is reasonable and Canucks GM Jim Benning’s interest in re-signing the 26-year-old is a ploy to extract more from an interested team in a trade.

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