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As there is expected to be a lot of trade discussions and commotion throughout the day with the trade deadline about to kick in, today’s blog will be short and sweet.
It seems that most pundits discussing, or at least trying to assess what it is that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be doing today have been centered around “A big move, or nothing at all…. Well gee, thanks…just about any trade made with respect to the Leafs seems to be a “big trade… anyways, so fans are really left to wonder what this team is going to do!
It is of my opinion, and I sincerely hope that I’m not alone, that the Toronto Maple Leafs need to move a player such as Jake Gardiner, Carl Gunnarsson, and or Nikolai Kulemin, in order to try and acquire a defensive defenseman.
There are rumblings that Toronto is kicking tires about acquiring Paul Stastny again (very unlikely), or looking at Ryan Kesler (a great pickup, but not what they need). It should be very apparent to anyone who has watched more than a handful of Toronto games that they really need an upgrade or two on the backend, as their a portion of their current defensive roster are not able to play to the style which the coach is trying to preach.
Which brings me to my next point; either change the personnel, or change the coach. Personally, I’m in favor of the former, as I like what Randy Carlyle has done with this group and I do feel that he can be the right coach for the organization. That said, he’s trying to teach penguins to fly and it’s not going to work. The Toronto Maple Leafs simply have too many defensemen who are naturally gifted offensively and not enough who are naturally gifted, defensively.
Now I don’t want this blog to sound like a rant, because that’s not my objective here. Rather, I want to point out that this team can vastly improve their overall performance in the short-term and long-term if they can find any ways to acquire a top four defenseman who can log minutes, and be a strong stay at home type of guy.
Well, Colin, that sounds pretty easy!
I am fully aware that acquiring such a piece will not come easy and that pieces will need to be moved, but I argue that the Leafs have a few extra players within their organization who they can afford to move to try and acquire such a piece, without causing another hole.
Perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs look to acquire a player such as Vancouver Canucks Alex Edler who may be available. The Canucks appear that, after moving Roberto Luongo and discussing possible Kesler deals, that they may be sellers. With that said, could the Leafs entice them to pull the trigger on an Edler deal?
Although I am sure that Dave Nonis does not want to repeat past GM mistakes by making knee-jerk reactionary trades this year, I strongly feel that by not addressing their defensive woes, the Leafs will either miss the playoffs, or not succeed beyond the first round if they do.
Depending on what your goal is for this team, I can assure you that management will have making the playoffs as a top priority. While fans have become very patient with their team and are likely encouraging a little more patience from those in charge, I don’t feel comfortable in assuring you that they will act this way given the team’s defensive play of late.
So I ask you, is it worth moving a young player or two in order to acquire a much needed defensive piece, or do they continue to be patient and hope for upgrades in the upcoming years?
For those who didn't catch my Flames blog, I am running a contest over twitter called #TradePool which will be running until 3pm today. Click here for further details as I will be giving away a prize(s) courtesy of @muchMOREdeals for trade submission(s) which are either accurate or closest to if no one is correct. One submission per person, I’m keeping track!
Thanks for reading!