Follow Colin on Twitter! Follow @ColinDJD A blog or two ago I wrote about how I felt that the Toronto Maple Leafs have actually improved, not significantly, but improved with their most recent off-season transactions.
That said, I feel as though what the Leafs have done to date was slightly improve upon certain players who they let go such as Mason Raymond, Nikolai Kulemin, Paul Ranger, Carl Gunnarson, Dave Bolland, Jay McClement. These players were all “upgraded… in a sense, with David Booth, Mike Santorelli, Stephane Robidas, Roman Polak, Matt Frattin, and Leo Komarov.
What I see when looking over these additions and subtractions is nothing more than improvements upon their depth players, while relatively remaining at the same cap commitment. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I do feel that the Leafs have improved, on paper, from what they iced last year.
We’ve gone over the details of what said players will offer in terms of “fancy stats…, but the added focus here would be that the team is moving in the right direction in terms of making necessary improvements each passing year.
So we’re in agreement so far – the Leafs look a little better in terms of their overall roster “depth… than they did last year? Provided that we do agree on this, what further needs to be discussed are how these depth players will help the overall team.
Something which Toronto often struggled with last year was not being able to rely on their bottom 6 players for important minutes, added offense, or…well, much to anything really. Still having guys like Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren, and even Jerred Smithson in the lineup didn’t provide the team with much beyond perhaps raising their average team height and weight.
Let’s be honest, it was nice to see those guys come to the aid of players and drop the mitts every so often. There’s no denying that most hockey fans love a good fight. But as much as I love watching my team throw a goon or two on the ice and intimidate their opponents, I really hate watching the same players get scored against or are made to look like fools when the other team plays “keep away… with the puck.
Thankfully, where we see the biggest improvement over last year, should be in that regard. With the additions of Booth, Komarov, Santorelli, Winnik, and Frattin, Toronto has added guys who can play with an edge, but also skate. What a concept! I truly feel that the added depth on the bottom six, provided that everyone remains relatively healthy and develops any level of chemistry together, will pay dividends toward the top 6 players who will no longer need to be relied upon to carry the rest of the team.
Now – I did mention that this team has only slightly improved, and it’s true. Toronto replaced a few forwards and defensemen who didn’t really have a great impact on the team (argument can be made for either Bolland or Gunnarson, though I really wasn’t happy with Gunnarsson’s game of late). That said, Toronto is still in dire need of acquiring an extra defensive defenseman, who can skate.
And I don’t mean skate like Jake Gardiner or Morgan Rielly – I mean a guy who can be relied upon defensively, is able to cover his assignments with ease, and can stay toe to toe with a forward flying up the wing.
This, I feel, is where the Leafs need to focus their remaining energy or cap dollars toward, and the name of Johnny Oduya from the Chicago Blackhawks often comes up. The Hawks are in need of shedding some cap dollars, and Oduya may be their latest victim. At 32 years of age, Johnny has plenty of hockey left in him, brings a high level of experience, and most importantly, can skate.
Not known for his offensive gifts, Oduya would be a quality defensive defenseman which the Toronto Maple Leafs could look into adding to their current roster. The problem, of course, would be removing a current defenseman as they currently sit with 6 guys signed at $2.75M or more, save for Morgan Rielly of course.
I am really in no position to discuss what it would take for Toronto to acquire a guy like Oduya from a team who needs to take back the least amount of cap as possible, however I do strongly feel that this would be a smart move for the organization. Toronto would likely need to find a new home for Cody Franson who makes roughly the same as Oduya, and perhaps the assets acquired from Franson (picks/prospects) could be flipped to Chicago, in addition to some of their own.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading!