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Leafs Q & A, March 11th Edition |
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For the latest Leafs updates or on Twitter
The Toronto Maple Leafs made a tinkering move at the NHL Trade Deadline with the trade for center Tomas Plekanec from Montreal, but were unable to acquire that long elusive top four defenseman. The club’s roster is now set for what appears to be a nearly certain matchup with the Boston Bruins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next month.
Many believe that the road from NHL bottom dweller to making the playoffs was less troublesome than the path that lies ahead for the Leafs, which is to make the right moves to get from a competitive club to a Stanley Cup contender.
It is once again time to go to the world of Twitter and the comments on my column on Hockeybuzz for your Leafs questions:
A - There were two of the 10 games (Nashville 2/7 and Islanders 2/22) that went to shootouts, so I will grant you that they could have been regulation or overtime ties back in the day, but you have give the Leafs credit for being much better on home ice, which has always been a pet peeve of the patrons at Air Canada Centre.
We’ve heard it all to often about the local Toronto-area kid coming back and lighting it up in front of his friends and family at the expense of the Leafs. That has not been heard as much recently.
Q - gergeswilliams asks - Will the Leafs sign UFA (John) Carlson? Will Lou trade for his rights?
A - Most observers have taken the lack of chatter about the “other Carlson” as a sign that the Washington Capitals will get the 28-year-old defenseman signed to a new deal before he hits unrestricted free agency this July, but the temptation to test the open market may be too much with a thin free agent market this summer and the bumper crop of blueliners (Drew Doughty, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson) two summers away.
The Leafs are likely to be in on any top-four defenseman that offers an upgrade at the position, but the question will be whether they believe Carlson is worth the price he will demand coming off a career offensive year (12 goals, 42 assists in 68 games so far), which could be in the $7-$7.5 Million per season range.
A - The pursuit of a top-four defenseman has been the focus of Leafs management for over a year. They were unable to consummate the deal for Travis Hamonic last summer and reportedly did not make an offer anywhere close to what Tampa Bay made to acquire McDonagh at the deadline.
If Toronto is looking to get a difference maker on the blueline without giving up significant assets, those scenarios do not come around very often. The Leafs seem to want to add someone with term left on their contract, which offers cost certainty.
The odds of Doughty, Karlsson, McDonagh or Ekman-Larsson reaching the open market in July 2019 are slim, so trading for them beforehand may be the best chance for Toronto to get a top blueliner.
Elliotte Friedman said on a recent “31 Thoughts Podcast” that the Leafs were looking around to acquire another first round pick at the deadline (possibly to get in on a Karlsson deal). The Norris Trophy winner did not get moved, but it appears likely that he will get dealt somewhere at the NHL Draft. Could that be to Toronto??
Q - Thecakeisaile asks - The hot topic these days seems to be the issues with goalie interference, especially after Babcock spoke up about it. Do you think the league will take any steps to correct this? I think we all just want some consistency.
A - The NHL already tried addressed the goalie interference situation during the All-Star break and now appears to be more interested in squelching the discontent of coaches like Mike Babcock, who spoke up after Johan Larsson made contact with Frederik Andersen in Buffalo last Monday.
The subjective no goal call and penalty made on Brian Dumoulin in the Leafs-Penguins game Saturday just convinces me that the controversy will not stop this season and will continue on into the playoffs, when some team is going to have their season ruined by a questionable decision.
A - Roman Polak has performed much better in the second half after a rough start, which was understandable after coming back from a broken leg in the first round loss to Washington. Polak is never going to be mistaken for Paul Coffey, but the necessity of his toughness was apparent in Saturday's win over Pittsburgh, when he came to the defense of William Nylander after Evgeni Malkin slammed him into the boards.
Not only did Polak respond with a shot to Malkin's back, he drew the Pens center into a retaliatory penalty.
Promoting from within will be necessary for the Leafs going forward, since having young players like Dermott and eventually Timothy Liljegren on entry-level deals will enable them to spend significant cap dollars in other areas, but it is not likely that Toronto will make a deep playoff run without making upgrades to their current blueline corps.
A - No. Carrick is likely the seventh defenseman at playoff time. I'm fairly sure that Babcock will opt for Polak playing with Dermott on the bottom pairing. If an injury occurs, Borgman would be the logical recall, since he had more than a half season in the NHL.....but the flaw in your argument is the Marlies making an early exit. That is not likely to happen.
A - Babcock has said that he will continue to use Andersen in every game and playing backup Curtis McElhinney in the second of back-to-back games, which would put him at 68 starts for the season. The Leafs starter looked to being showing signs of fatigue during the club's four-game road losing streak, but appeared refreshed and sharp after four days off on Saturday.
Perhaps that will convince the Leafs head coach to give McElhinney an extra start or two before the end of the season, but I would not hold my breath.
A - Toronto can trade van Riemsdyk's negotiating rights after the season to a team that wants an early opportunity to talk to him, but the chance for getting anything significant for the pending free agent has past.
Clubs have a five-day window to speak to perspective free agents before July 1, so any deal for van Riemsdyk's rights would likely take place on the draft floor in Dallas, but unless a team is convinced they need an extra day or two to talk with him, they will simply wait until the window.
A - There is a chance that the future Hall-of-Famer could be the Leafs answer to replace Tyler Bozak, but a lot of things would have to happen to make that possible. Thornton talked to Toronto last summer before re-signing for one year in San Jose, which means he was at least open to the possibility of leaving Northern California to play with Patrick Marleau.
Thornton has missed a significant chunk of this season with a knee injury and will be 39 in July. The Leafs would likely be interested if they could get him signed for one year at a low base salary with bonus incentives, because a longer deal could come back to bite them with the salary on a 35+ contract counting against the cap (unless there is space available on Robidas Island).
A - Johnsson is one of a few possible candidates to replace van Riemsdyk on the left side. The 24-year-old has a completely different skill set, but 25 goals with the Toronto Marlies this season is a good sign that the speedy Swede is ready for the NHL.
The likely replacement for Komarov is Kasperi Kapanen (who already is an excellent penalty killer), but of the three big UFA's, Komarov has the best chance of coming back on a one-year deal simply because Babcock trusts him so much.
A - The Leafs are at 29 pro contracts for 2018-19, with most of the six UFA's currently on their NHL roster (van Riemsdyk, Bozak, Komarov, Polak, Tomas Plekanec and Dominic Moore) likely not re-signing and Joffrey Lupul's deal expiring.
Restricted free agents (such as William Nylander and Connor Carrick) do not count towards the 29, but will when they are re-signed, as will other RFA's like Johnsson, Calvin Pickard and Frederik Gauthier when they agree to new deals. Best guess, the Leafs will be in the low-to-mid 40's on pro deals when training camp rolls around next September.
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