Leafs goalie shopping, Kapanen & Johnsson as trade bait, and another defenseman to consider
By Jon Steitzer
4 years agoHells yeah, it’s time for more trade rumours. And we’re here to make sure you get the maximum mileage out of every throwaway piece of speculation that comes out of an insider’s mouth.
We’ll start in with the most recent development, and that’s the doubling back around to a backup (starter replacement?) goaltender as a priority.
Siegel believes it will be close as to whether the Leafs will make the playoffs with Andersen, while any prolonged absence without an upgrade behind him could leave the Leafs on the outside looking in. He notes it may prove costly to acquire help, but asks whether the team can afford not to. He adds the position has been a weakness for the Leafs throughout the season with No. 3 option Kasimir Kaskisuo owning just one career NHL start.Two goaltenders are currently listed on the TSN Trade Bait board in Alexander Georgiev of the New York Rangers (No. 17) and Robin Lehner of the Chicago Blackhawks (No. 23). TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported last month that the Maple Leafs were among the teams to have inquired on Georgiev, who has a 12-10-1 record with a .909 save percentage this season.
So some quick thoughts on that…
If the Rangers were gouging the Leafs on Georgiev when Andersen was healthy and they were just looking for a backup upgrade, you better believe the price will go up for him now. I don’t see the Leafs paying a ransom for a questionable goaltender, but I could see them trying to push for a bigger deal with the Rangers who have other interesting pieces like Lias Andersson, and Chris Kreider. It seems like this is destined to happen at some point, but the Leafs will likely need to play out the game of chicken to the 11th hour on the trade deadline to get anything remotely close to a reasonable deal, and that might be too late for the season at that point.
As for Lehner, well, he seems like a damned expensive rental, and I’m not sure rentals sit well with the Leafs, especially when sacrificing futures for a goaltender is involved. I’m hoping we can simply forget his name was ever mentioned, and it was just a matter of connecting a team with a name on the TSN Trade Bait board.
Speaking of the TSN Trade Bait board, Kasperi Kapanen, and Andreas Johnsson come in at 18th and 19th respectively. All signs point to Dubas wanting to keep Kapanen, but being more open to shopping Johnsson, who hasn’t been at his best of late. Alternatively, Elliotte Friedman has speculated that Sheldon Keefe might prefer that Kapanen is the odd man out…
Assuming one of them is moved, it’s probably going to be in a significant deal addressing the blueline needs and not anything else. My current guess is that we’ll need to remain patient until the draft for anything actually happen on this front and this month will just be an exercise in fact finding on what they could get for them.
Some of the more interesting names to appear on the Trade Bait list are Shayne Gostisbehere of the Flyers, Ondrej Kase of the Ducks, Jeff Petry of the Habs, and Zach Bogosian of the Sabres. A lot of the other names on that list like Clifford, Manson, Dumba, Puljujarvi, and Georgiev we’ve covered previously, but those names present some interesting new options to explore.
Dustin Byfuglien
Frank Seravalli is reporting that the Jets and Byfuglien are working towards ending Byfuglien’s contract with Winnipeg…
The Jets and defenceman Dustin Byfuglien are working toward a mutual contract termination over the next several days, according to multiple sources, which would formally end his suspension and bring to a close the grievance Byfuglien filed in November.…f executed, the contract termination would also make Byfuglien an unrestricted free agent, free to resume his career with any team of his choosing. That could be next week, next season or never again. Byfuglien’s on-ice future remains very much in doubt.…Byfuglien, 34, has not resumed skating since undergoing ankle surgery in late October. He reportedly began rehabbing the injury in consultation with the Jets in mid-December, but hasn’t progressed to the next step in the process.
Basically the question is, do the Leafs want to bring in Byfuglien to rehab with them, and potentially see if he’d be an option for them somewhere down the line?
My answer is probably not. The Leafs have enough on their plate without taking on a project this late in the season, and it’s hard to imagine that this isn’t the end of the road for Byfuglien. That being said, if he’s cheap he’d be an interesting risk to explore, and the Leafs have the right people in the organization to work with him.
Still, nothing about this situation says “here is the answer to the Leafs blueline problems” and that’s why it’s probably worth forgetting about this option.
Byfuglien’s contract being terminated might make the Jets an aggressive competitor for the services of right shooting defensemen in the trade market however, and with the advantage of $7.6M of cap space and ownership of a 2020 1st round draft pick. Thankfully no trade clauses will always be the great equalizer for Winnipeg, but you better believe they will also be chasing players that have term.
Finally, Cody Ceci…
Yes, that Cody Ceci.
The Athletic seems very confident that Cody Ceci won’t be a Leaf after the trade deadline, and boy oh boy would I like to share their optimism. GMs have never had a problem with chasing after stay at home defensemen at the trade deadline, and that could be a convenient situation for Kyle Dubas, who seems to have a coach that is falling out of love with Ceci, and a fan base that never liked Ceci to begin with.
Expecting much of a return on Ceci would just be Leafs fans getting greedy, and the end game is more about freeing up some cap space and also not having Cody Ceci. Wanting more than that is a sign you need to lower your expectations.
If the Leafs were to deal Ceci today, he’d have positive differentials on shot attempts, goals, and expected goals, while averaging over 17 minutes a night of 5v5 hockey. On the surface that’s something a lot of teams would be okay with, assuming they don’t go through the trouble of looking at how Ceci’s numbers improved as he became increasingly more sheltered, and that his relative corsi is a disaster to say the least.
Still there’s a market for anyone, and soon you might find out who is in the market for Ceci.
As for now, with injuries piling up and the Leafs still very much on the bubble for the playoffs, it looks like a trade sooner rather than later would make a lot of sense, and perhaps the Jake Muzzin trade last year has given the expectation that Dubas will act early. My guess is that we’re in a very different situation this go around, and we’re going to see a level of patience from the organization we don’t wish to see as the Leafs might be a little risk adverse to going all in on the playoffs only to realize a new backup goaltender and middle pairing defender aren’t how they get there.
Recent articles from Jon Steitzer
