Should the Toronto Maple Leafs claim Scott Harrington off Waivers?

Photo Credit: Christian Bonin/TSGPhoto.com

Less than an hour ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Scott Harrington and a conditional fifth round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Kerby Rychel, who is a good 21-year-old hockey player that most teams are probably kicking themselves for not continuing to kick tires on.

But let’s look at the condition of that pick one more time.

So, let’s get this straight. Based on these conditions, could the Leafs just wait until September and give the Blue Jackets a 5th rounder to bring Harrington back into the fold?

Because let’s be real; there’s a very good chance that a player recovering from a season-ending upper body injury is going to play a bit of cautious hockey at the start of training camp, which is literally the last thing that you want to do in front of John “Block Everything” Tortorella. It wouldn’t be in any way surprising to see Harrington on waivers in approximately 90 days.

This would, of course, make the trade a simple one of Kerby Rychel for a 5th round pick, which we can all agree is even more lopsided than it already is.

There is an issue, though. While Harrington was good enough to make this past season’s opening roster, he wasn’t good enough to stick around and probably won’t be rotation-worthy in a few months, be it through Toronto acquiring new defencemen, or their current ones developing naturally. Also, you run the risk of ruining the relationship the team has with Jarmo Kekelainen, but I presume that you can convince the guy who traded for David Clarkson and passed on Jesse Puljujarvi to forgive the loss of Scott Harrington.

With those things considered, this might not be the best idea. It would be hilarious, though.