Two names that rarely get mentioned on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster are defensemen at the polar opposites of their careers, but whose future with the club are equally murky. Toronto native Frank Corrado was claimed off of waivers from the Vancouver Canucks on October 6 and has not seen action with the exception of a 14-day conditioning stint with the Toronto Marlies.
The Leafs have eight defensemen on their roster and head coach Mike Babcock has rotated rookie Scott Harrington and Martin Marincin on the bottom pairing, but the 22-year-old Corrado has not drawn much consideration of getting into the lineup, even when his former team visited Air Canada Center last Saturday.
“Frankie’s a great kid. He's committed. He works hard every day," Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello said in an interview with Sportsnet last week. "His time will come, and then it will be up to him to make the most of that opportunity.…
Corrado has to get a chance to prove himself and with the Maple Leafs enjoying some success, it is unlikely that he will break into the lineup unless injuries occur or trade possibilities open up for pending UFA defenseman Roman Polak.
Vancouver failed to sneak Corrado through waivers to get playing time in the AHL and it is unlikely that teams in need of defense would pass on a young, inexpensive blueliner if the Leafs attempted to do the same now.
In spite of playing games during the pre-season, 38-year-old Stephane Robidas was placed on injured reserve when the roster was cut down to 23 players with knee/groin issues related to the pair of broken legs the defenseman had while with Dallas and Anaheim in 2013-14.
Lamoriello’s policy in New Jersey was to keep injured players sequestered from those on the active roster and that appears to be the case with Robidas, who has been invisible since the start of the season. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reported this week that the veteran blueliner is still trying to come back, but that the time frame will not been in the near future.
The Leafs have the option of placing Robidas on LTIR, but there would be no cost benefit at this time since the club has over $6 Million in available cap space.
If Toronto management decides to use their available cap space to acquire assets before the trade deadline, they could create even more room by switching Robidas from IR to LTIR after most of the current cap space has been used up.
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The switch from Jonathan Bernier to James Reimer as the primary starting goalie has prompted more trade speculation about both Toronto netminders.
Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported on Tuesday that two rival NHL teams had internal discussions recently about trying to acquire Bernier, who has one more season left at $4.15 Million, while Damien Cox hints that Reimer’s recent hot streak has done nothing but increase the trade value of the 27-year-old goalie, who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
Cox is correct in his analysis that the Leafs are unlikely to re-sign either netminder to an extension, which could be why there have been persistent rumors that Toronto is interested in acquiring a young goaltender in a trade.
The return would be limited for Bernier, based on his poor performance late last season and thus far this year, which makes Reimer being dealt before February 29th the more likely path.
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