After years of playoff disappointments with former general manager Kyle Dubas at the helm, he and the rest of his staff knew that the 2022-23 season would be crucial in determining their future in the Leafs’ front office. Dubas pushed his chips in ahead of the trade deadline that March with an emphasis on improving his club’s defensive play, acquiring the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, Jake McCabe, Noel Acciari, Luke Schenn, and Sam Lafferty. Oftentimes, the players we see moved around the trade deadline are pending free agents who are considered rentals, and that was the case for most of Dubas’ late-season acquisitions in 2022-23, but Jake McCabe has remained a key piece of Toronto’s blue line and has provided outstanding value during his time in blue and white.

Like every GM, Dubas had his hits and misses, but the McCabe trade will go down as one of the best moves he made in his time running the Leafs. Trading first-round picks is typically reserved for situations where teams are acquiring marquee names, but the Leafs saw an opportunity to improve their blue line in the short term as well as in the future and took a big swing on McCabe. With the Chicago Blackhawks floundering and all too happy to improve their odds of landing phenom Connor Bedard in the 2023 draft, the Leafs dealt away their 2025 first-rounder and their second-round pick in 2026, alongside minor league forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev, in exchange for McCabe and Lafferty.

At first glance, it seemed a steep price to pay for a second-pair defenceman and a depth forward, but the Leafs were willing to pay that premium because Chicago retained half of McCabe’s remaining salary, giving the cap-strapped Leafs a physical, defence-first blueliner who could handle top-four minutes at a cap hit of just $2 million – not only for that season but for the next two seasons as well.

It didn’t take long for McCabe’s bruising style of play to make him a fan favourite in Toronto, and he formed one half of a shutdown pairing alongside TJ Brodie for the Leafs’ first playoff series win in two decades as they took down the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The Brodie-McCabe pairing was far from perfect in that playoff run, but despite being outscored heavily while they were on the ice, their underlying numbers were strong enough to support the belief that McCabe could handle those difficult assignments.

With a full offseason as a Leaf under his belt, McCabe established himself as one of the club’s most important players in his first full season in 2023-24. He found chemistry alongside another rough-and-tumble defender in Simon Benoit, and they excelled in difficult minutes, with the Leafs accounting for nearly 58% of the goals scored and just under 54% of the expected goals in the 522 minutes McCabe and Benoit played together at 5v5. McCabe also established career highs in goals, assists, and points, finishing the campaign with eight goals and 20 assists.

Perhaps just as important as his on-ice results, McCabe has been a big part of the Leafs changing their identity and becoming a more difficult team to play against. He finished the season with the second-most hits on the team, trailing only Benoit, and certainly led the team in big, momentum-shifting hits. He has always had a knack for delivering bone-crushing, open-ice hits, and he has become an imposing presence for the Leafs’ defensive core because of it. He isn’t one to go looking for a fight, but he isn’t one to back down either, and he is more than willing to act as a deterrent around the Leafs’ net, whether it be battling for space or scrumming it up after the whistle.

Heading into the 2023-24 season and the final year of his current contract, McCabe once again appears primed for a prominent role on the back end for the Leafs. Considering what he has provided since being acquired by the Leafs and the style that general manager Brad Treliving, as well as new head coach Craig Berube, want their team to play, it isn’t surprising that rumours of their desire to keep McCabe in the fold beyond this season have started to percolate in recent weeks.

The biggest beneficiary to the Leafs’ offseason acquisition of Chris Tanev figures to be Morgan Rielly, who at long last has an upper-echelon, right-handed defensive partner capable of taking on the opposition’s best. After Rielly, McCabe might be the player who will benefit the most from Tanev’s presence because he won’t have to be relied upon quite as heavily to handle the toughest minutes night in and night out.

Ahead of the season opener, it looks like McCabe will be playing the right side with another offseason acquisition, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as his partner on the left side. Ekman-Larsson shares few similarities with Benoit, who found a home alongside McCabe last year, and that will present a new challenge. Last season, McCabe was the one on his pairing who was relied upon to be the primary puck mover, and he could take a few more chances knowing that Benoit was never straying too far from home defensively. Ekman-Larsson, on the other hand, was brought in to help the Leafs get the puck moving up ice and generate more offence from the blue line, so McCabe’s responsibilities will be slightly different with him as a partner.

McCabe is plenty capable of being the defensive conscience on his pairing, and the Leafs are hoping that pairing OEL with one of their most trusted defenders will free him up to play his game and maximize his offensive strengths. If McCabe can hold up his end of the bargain alongside Ekman-Larsson while bringing his trademark intensity and physicality each night, he will continue to provide surplus value for the Leafs at $2 million against the salary cap.

Sure, he was acquired by the previous general manager, but Brad Treliving and the rest of the Leafs’ management staff have to be pleased with the return on the team’s investment in McCabe to this point. A bonafide top-four defenceman who plays a hardnosed style of game for a cap hit of $2 million is outstanding value, but that price is going up significantly with his next contract, and the Leafs have to determine how much they can afford to pay the soon-to-be 31 year old while ensuring they are spending their cap dollars efficiently.

The Leafs already have three blueliners locked in for significant money well into their 30s. Rielly accounts for $7.5 million annually, and he will be 36 years old when his contract expires after the 2029-30 season. Tanev is already 34 years of age and he is entering the first year of a six-year contract that carries a cap hit of $4.5 million. Ekman-Larsson is 33, and he’s on the books for $3.5 million until the end of the 2027-28 season.

Committing big money to another defenceman well into his 30s shouldn’t be a deal breaker, but even with a growing salary cap, it is reason for pause. Recent extensions for similar players like Adam Larsson in Seattle and Esa Lindell in Dallas came in around the $5 million AAV mark, and they provide a pretty straightforward template for a McCabe extension, but the Leafs have to decide if that number fits into their future salary cap structure, assuming they haven’t already made that decision.

If McCabe can be the player he was last season, getting a deal done for approximately 5% of the salary cap in the coming years makes sense for the Leafs. If he builds off of a career year, takes another step, and helps lead the Leafs to more playoff success, it will be a no-brainer.