The Toronto Maple Leafs salvaged their five-game road trip with a dominant 7-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark on Tuesday, getting production from their core group (Auston Matthews and John Tavares had a goal and assist, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly with a goal, Nazem Kadri with three assists), their depth players (Tyler Ennis with a pair of goals, Patrick Marleau with a tally tying Maurice “The Rocket” Richard with 544 career goals and Connor Brown with three assists) and jumping on the struggling Devils with three first period goals.
“We haven’t been working as hard as we need to be and tonight we came out ready to play.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “We came in here, we got the puck behind them, we got to do what we needed to do and that’s why we were successful.”
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the victory, which coupled with the Buffalo loss to Florida vaulted Toronto back into second place in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs finished 2-2-1 on their road swing and now play four of their next five games at Scotiabank Arena, starting with a rematch with the Panthers on Thursday.
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The recent comments from GM Kyle Dubas regarding how and where the Leafs will approach improving the club before the NHL Trade Deadline would indicate that they will be hunting big game in the form of a top-four defenseman, but just as important as adding a blueliner who can play 20+ minutes alongside Morgan Rielly or Jake Gardiner could be improving the club’s depth on defense in case of injuries.
One of the key moves that the Washington Capitals made in preparation for the post-season was the acquisition of defenseman Michal Kempny from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2018 third round pick. Kempny was in and out of the Hawks lineup, but the 28-year-old was a steadying presence for the Capitals, playing all 24 playoff games on the way to a Stanley Cup victory.
The Leafs have organizational depth that may pay off in future years, with youngsters Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin in the pipeline and the more experienced Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman possibly vying for NHL jobs next season, but what Dubas has to prepare for is the unforeseen occurrence such as Roman Polak breaking his leg in Game 2 of the first round series against Washington two years ago.
Currently Babcock’s first option in case of injury is inserting Martin Marincin in the lineup and based on how he performed against the Caps and in the NHL since, no one should feel comfortable at the prospect of him being on the ice when the fate of the season is at hand.
Dubas is cognizant of the price of doing business prior to the deadline and that is why he emphasized the desire to add someone with term left on their contract, which would provide cost certainty past this season and a longer lasting return for young assets or valuable high draft choices, but it does not close the door on adding depth if it can be acquired for a low cost or by taking advantage of the cap space the Leafs have available this season.
Starting with potential inexpensive options like Kempny, here are five possible options that Dubas could add to provide help on the blueline:
Kevin Bieksa (Free Agent) - The 37-year-old Grimsby, ON native played 57 games for Anaheim last season and did not find a taker as an unrestricted free agent last summer, but is hoping to attract some interest from NHL clubs by playing for Canada in the Spengler Cup later this month.
Bieksa is right handed, plays with an edge, can kill penalties and the only cost would be an NHL contract for the rest of this season, but his footspeed is declining.
Alex Petrovic (Florida Panthers) - Petrovic has size (6’4” 216lbs) and likes to lay the body on opposition forwards, but the 26-year-old’s lack of offense (1 assist in 24 games) and expiring contract will likely keep the cost of acquiring him to a mid-round pick.
Radko Gudas (Philadelphia Flyers) - Gudas strangely has advocates in the analytics community and those who believe the Leafs to need to add some toughness and pushback.
In his piece in the Athletic, Ian Tulloch indicates that Gudas is one of the best blueliners in the NHL at limiting scoring chances (probably because opposing forwards are fearful of getting taken out) and that the Flyers do well when he is on the ice, but that he takes way too many shots from the point that have a low percentage chance of scoring.
The 28-year-old makes $3.35 Million and is signed through 2020, and could cost as much as a second round pick if the Flyers decide to move him and interest is high, but unlike wasting second round picks on rentals Brian Boyle and Tomas Plekanec the last two deadlines, adding Gudas would address an area of need and for more than one year.
Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings) - Stanley Cup experience and the ability to throw bone crushing hits are the reasons why the Leafs could be interested in the 37-year-old Kronwall (who is expected to retire after this season), but declining mobility due to a bad knee and whether he wants to play for Mike Babcock again are questions that could prevent it from happening.
Roman Polak(Dallas Stars - I can just see my friend Steve Dangle yelling “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”. Based on his familiarity with the Leafs coaching staff and players, the relative low cost it would take to re-acquire him and his ability to be a penalty killer or be a stop gap in a pinch, bring Polak back makes some sense.
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