With a bevy of young talented forwards in the organization and the addition of veteran goalies Frederik Andersen and Jhonas Enroth this summer, the area where the Toronto Maple Leafs likely will focus on improving is the blueline.
The club has a legitimate top-pairing defenseman in 22-year-old Morgan Rielly, but after that there are a bunch of question marks.
In spite of recurrent rumors of established defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and Cam Fowler being available on the trade market, the Maple Leafs are more likely to be concentrating on giving their own internal prospects playing time rather than exploring ways to upgrade outside the organization.
GM Lou Lamoriello will keep all options open, but adding a defenseman like Shattenkirk (an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season) or Fowler (who has two years left at $4 Million salary) would be a quick fix and not beneficial to the long-term plans of the Leafs unless they get either at a bargain basement price.
Shattenkirk or Fowler re-signing with whoever they are with at the end of their deals is a long shot unless they are offered a contract comparable to what they would get in free agency, so the only potential positive would be to acquire and flip to another team at the trade deadline.
It's Aug. 31, but Auston Matthews is working on his game at the #leafs practice rink. pic.twitter.com/4tvhd5fTRX
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 31, 2016
The Leafs have 2015 draftees Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen entering their first season in the American Hockey League and young pros Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Carrick, Frank Corrado, Viktor Loov, Rinat Valiev and Martin Marincin fighting for spots at training camp.
The perfect target for the Leafs would be defensemen that are under control for a number of years, such as restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm or Jacob Trouba (coming off their entry-level contracts and four years away from UFA) or those already signed to extensions like Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin.
Toronto is not expected to be competitive the next two seasons and giving Mike Babcock that time to find out whether those young defenseman can grow into contributors is preferable to giving up draft picks and young prospects in a trade.
*******
The Marlies have signed defenseman Jon Jutzi to an AHL contract. The 25-year-old blueliner played six games for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose after completing four years in the NCAA at Minnesota State U – Mankato.
The Tavistock, ON has been invited to the club’s rookie tournament in London, ON next month and provides organizational depth that could fit with the Marlies or with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL.
*******
Check out Leafs 2016 second rounder Yegor Korshkov’s first goal of the KHL season, an overtime winner for Lokomotiv over Avangard Omsk:
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.