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Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello is facing a lot of challenges in his quest to improve the Toronto blueline thus far.
At the NHL Draft in Chicago, the Leafs made a substantial offer that reportedly included forward James van Riemsdyk and their 2018 first round pick for defenseman Travis Hamonic, but the offer and Hamonic’s preference to be moved to Western Canada was not a good fit and he was dealt to the Calgary Flames for a first and a pair of second round picks.
On Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights shipped veteran blueliner Marc Methot to the Dallas Stars for a 2020 second round pick and 2017 draft pick Dylan Thompson. Methot had a limited no-trade clause that prevented him being moved to every Canadian team except the Senators and both Montreal and Toronto were said to have inquired about the 31-year-old defenseman.
Anaheim and Minnesota were relieved of the immediate pressure to move a defenseman by trading with Vegas, but cap ramifications could still see Sami Vatanen, Marco Scandella or Mathew Dumba moved in the next few weeks.
The Ducks are likely to sign defenseman Cam Fowler on or just after July 1 and may need to move Vatanen’s $4.875 Million salary to do so. Scandella is signed through 2020 at $4 Million per season and Dumba is entering the final year of a two-year bridge deal, which means that Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has to move Scandella to create room to sign Dumba or trade Dumba because Minnesota cannot afford to sign him.
TSN's
Pierre LeBrun says Florida will likely move defenseman Jason Demers (who has four years remaining on a five-year, $22.5 Million contract) and Toronto native Chris Tanev has continued to be mentioned in connection with the Leafs, but if those pursuits do not pan out, Lamoriello’s fallback position may be to shift to free agency with names like Michael Stone, Trevor Daley, Cody Franson and Dan Girardi being brought in to add depth on defense.
Stone will not be brought back by Calgary after being acquired from the Coyotes at the deadline and is a right-handed shooter, but the 27-year-old dropped from a career-high 36 points to 15 last season.
Daley has won a pair of Cups with the Penguins and is a Toronto native, but is 33 and missed significant time last season due to injury.
Franson signed with Buffalo after Toronto traded the blueliner to Nashville in February 2015 and did not fit in well with the Sabres, scoring under 20 points in each of his two seasons. The former Leaf turns 30, is right-handed and has expressed interest in returning to Toronto, but he would likely see any power play time with Morgan Rielly, Nikita Zaitsev and Jake Gardiner ahead of him on the depth chart and his play in the defensive zone is average at best.
Girardi is drawing interest from a number of teams, but the 32-year-old is looking for a multi-year deal and that may scare teams like Toronto away.
In his ’30 Thoughts’ column,
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculates that the Leafs could have interest in veteran forwards Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau with head coach Mike Babcock’s connection to them through Team Canada.
The Athletic's
Craig Custance reports that Toronto is one of seven teams to have made contact with Marleau.
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