WHY ARE THE MAPLE LEAFS LOOKING FOR A WINGER?
The return of 32 Thoughts included the most cherished of all content, vague speculation about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Elliotte Friedman dropped in the line, “I think there are things percolating out there, including Toronto considering left-wing options,” and immediately a can of worms has been opened.
Shane Seney has already provided us with a thorough list of who is presently out there in free agency that the Leafs could be looking at, but in a lot of ways that doesn’t make a ton of sense. So rather than offer up ideas on who could potentially be a target, and it seems more worthwhile to consider where Toronto’s focus should be.
The Nick Robertson factor
The first thing that I thought of when saying that Toronto was looking for a left wing was that this would be the ideal thing for the Maple Leafs to put out there if they wanted Nick Robertson to know there is a regular role for him on the Maple Leafs and his best course of action is to sign with the team instead of exploring a trade.
It might be because I wrote about Robertson recently that my mind went there, but with Robertson likely checking boxes for the Maple Leafs on the offensive output they’d be seeking (Robertson is a better alternative to most of the UFA options), and that his price would be right for the club, this seemed to have a slight hint of negotiating through the media feel to it.
A lot of that was immediately contradicted on Tuesday morning, as TSN Insider Chris Johnston stated that Nick Robertson is still seeking a trade and wants out. Johnston acknowledged the clear path to regular playing time and he’d be working with a new coach with a clean slate but things haven’t changed on his refusal to sign with the Leafs. It might be more of a personal reason for why Robertson doesn’t want to stay in Toronto, given that his family is across the continent in California could be part of that, but for what it is worth, Chris Johnston suggested that it is still in the Leafs best interest to bring back Robertson.
“They’ve got left wing options at home”
In addition to Robertson, the Leafs have plenty of winger options that could be vying for a spot on the Maple Leafs, the obvious options at the top of the list include Easton Cowan, Alex Nylander, and Alex Steeves. Throw-in potential centres like Pontus Holmberg and Fraser Minten, and there are plenty of options that mirror the potential of an iffy late summer free agent signing.
Brad Treliving hedging his bets a little here might be part of it, as could the fact that the Leafs may be looking for a specific archetype of winger (specifically trying to replace Tyler Bertuzzi or a request from Craig Berube believing he needs someone different than who the Leafs have) but depth on the wing doesn’t seem to be Toronto’s issue.
Why not a third line centre?
This is my biggest question, and I guess it depends on how ready the Leafs are to see what they have with Holmberg, Minten, or possibly even see if Cowan can line-up at centre. Centres are harder to find and will come at a steeper price so perhaps the Leafs are wanting to avoid looking at their more pressing need in favour of a more attainable/affordable option.
If the free agent market for wingers looks dried up, the centre market is the Sahara. There isn’t really a usable option and even when suggesting centres who could be available via trade, the options seem to be limited to Morgan Frost (who the Flyers may no longer be trying to trade), or Nazem Kadri (who comes with a steep cap hit and may not be available to the Leafs because of the potential of Brad Treliving having a strained relationship with his former club).
Thinking too small
Perhaps this is a rare moment where we are thinking about things smaller than the Leafs are. This might not be a free agency thing or a Nick Robertson thing, but the Leafs might be exploring another top six option or at least a more established top nine option that would be a Tyler Bertuzzi level impact player.
The Leafs don’t have much in the way of cap space but with money out options like Kampf, Jarnkrok, Liljegren, Timmins, and Reaves that create some flexibility and Toronto could pursue an impact option. During his recent availability during the Matthews captaincy announcement, Brad Treliving reiterated that Toronto was open to any options that could improve the team and at that time there was still five weeks to training camp so he didn’t consider the roster set in stone.
Who the Leafs could be targeting, assuming they are targeting something is completely wide open and would be nothing more than guesses, but hell, I’ll share them anyway. I’d see the options being one of the three following approaches:
- Another team with a prospect they are ready to move on from that would be willing to take Nick Robertson (think Hoglander for Robertson as a speculative example)
- An expiring UFA on lottery team that doesn’t want to pay the full contract (would the Leafs take a 50% retained Taylor Hall to see what he can do?)
- The Leafs going after someone with size that might replace Bertuzzi (Marcus Foligno on the Wild would be example of a potential target here)
From a purely armchair GM perspective, those would be targets that the Leafs could look at without making dramatic changes to the rest of their lineup.
Maybe that answers the question of why the Maple Leafs would be looking at left wingers. Upgrading on the wing is likely easier than finding help at centre, defence, or goal, and the Leafs want to find additional help without taking a step back in other areas.
The other thing that is equally likely is that this is a case of GMs calling GMs all the time and teams constantly exploring ways they could improve. While this thought was interesting in late August when we are starved for Leafs news it could just be a sign of business as usual and there is no reason to turn notifications on for NHL insiders.
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2024-08-28T14:40:49Z dg43tfdfdgfd