The Toronto Maple Leafs lead the North Division by six points with a month to go in the regular season and following the additions of Riley Nash, Nick Foligno, Stefan Noesen and David Rittich on the weekend, GM Kyle Dubas put the final touches on his club prior to the NHL Trade Deadline by acquiring depth defenseman Ben Hutton from the Anaheim Ducks for a 2022 fifth round pick and sent winger Alexander Barabanov to the San Jose Sharks for minor leaguer Antti Suomela.
The 27-year-old blueliner was someone that the Leafs considered adding as a free agent two years ago before he signed with the Los Angeles Kings, and has played regularly for the Ducks this season. Hutton provides Toronto experienced defensive depth that they lacked going into the playoffs and a buffer from having to play an inexperienced Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren or a minor-league talent in Martin Marincin in a playoff scenario.
Barabanov was signed as a free agent last April after seven seasons in the KHL and played only 13 games for the Leafs this season. With the addition of Foligno and the return of William Nylander, it was unlikely that the winger would get back into the lineup regularly and the trade cleared most of the cap space added by the acquisition of Hutton.
“Ben had been on our radar. We watched him last year in LA and this year in Anaheim. We just think he is able to play up and down the lineup. Last year in LA, he had a strong run of games with Drew Doughty. He is able to come in, kill penalties, and play that sort of role.” Dubas said. “We felt, in terms of depth, we have a lot of guys who can come in and play on the power play and play more offensive minutes. We wanted to bolster what we had defensively. We felt that over his career, he has done that. That is what led us to Ben down that path with him.”
With all the additions, Dubas has left his club with no excuses heading into the playoffs. The Leafs did not subtract anyone from their every day NHL roster and addressed their major shortcomings and areas of uncertainty. Now it is up to the team with the second-best record in the NHL to find a way to succeed and advance in the postseason for the first time since 2004.
“Sheldon and I have talked since the summer about adding a defensively responsible right-handed center. Riley Nash accomplished that for us. We then shifted our focus to goaltending. As we have lived the whole year with injuries at different times to Jack (Campbell) and Fred(erik Andersen).” Dubas said. “The one thing we didn’t want to do is get down the stretch and into the playoffs and regret not bolstering it. That is why we elected to move with David Rittich with Calgary (and) shored up our depth on defense with Ben Hutton. We are content with the way things have gone.”
It will be at least a week before Foligno and Hutton clear quarantine and are available to play, but it is expected that goalie David Rittich will make his first start as a Leafs against his former club on Tuesday.
Toronto’s six-game winning streak was snapped in a 4-2 loss to Montreal on Monday, as the Leafs had a rough start, fell behind 2-0, only to rally with goals from Auston Matthews and John Tavares to tie the game before Josh Anderson scored the game-winner at 16:22 of the second period.
Campbell made 21 saves in his first loss since March 6, 2020 vs. Anaheim, snapping his record 11-game win streak to start the season.
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