The Toronto Maple Leafs have dropped to 3-2-1 on the 12 months after a 4-3 additional time loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Head coach Craig Berube was dissatisfied in the trouble of his team in the sport as they struggled throughout. The team continues to be holding on to a playoff spot, but sitting in third within the division will cause overreaction and the need for a trade.
The Leafs opened the season with a win, before back-to-back losses to the Detroit Red Wings. After two more wins, the team then lost to the Kraken. The team has scored well this 12 months, sitting sixth within the NHL with 3.67 goals per game. Still, they’ve struggled in other areas. The Maple Leafs will not be scoring well on the powerplay, sitting twenty seventh within the NHL in conversion percentage. The club can be thirteenth on the penalty kill. Further, they’re twenty third in goals against per game.
The recent defensive struggles have led to goaltender Anthony Stolarz criticizing the defense. Meanwhile, certainly one of the celebrities of the team, William Nylander, responded, saying they’re all frustrated currently, but still sitting at 3-2-1. Still, the defense has been horrible, and the Leafs may have to make a move.
Could William Nylander be traded?
Stolarz was critical of the Leafs after the loss to the Kraken.
“I mean, quite a lot of guys have been here for some time. Additional time, you’ll be able to’t let someone beat you up the ice there and gets a clear-cut breakaway,” Stolarz said after the sport. “A minute left, you ought to be on the ice in that situation you gotta work hard … It cost us some extent.”
This was directed right at Nylander. He was the one who allowed Josh Mahura to get the breakaway for the goal, his eleventh goal of his NHL profession. While Nylander then called the team a family in response, it is obvious there may be a small fracture within the family dynamic. Now, Nylander has turn into the main focus of some ire in Toronto.
“Well, here’s what I’d say. It appears like there is a latest scapegoat on the town. It’s moved five notches down from 93 to 88. I will be very clear here. He made a mistake. We all know he made a mistake. He’s their leading scorer. It just feels again they got to search out a scapegoat,” said NHL analyst Craig Button on the TSN OverDrive podcast.
Nylander almost certainly won’t be available for a trade, unless it’s for the proper player. Regardless, the Leafs still may have to make a move.
Who should the Maple Leafs trade for?
It is obvious that the Maple Leafs need assistance on the defensive end of the ice. The team has given up 4 or more goals in three of their seven games, and has only one game giving up under two goals. Stolarz has not been great. He has a 2.79 goals agaisnt average and a .897 save percentage. Regardless, he’s facing a bunch of shots and lots of in high-danger scoring areas.
The most important issue has been the blue line. They’re allowing those shots and high-danger possibilities. What’s much more disappointing is the proven fact that the team has 30.3 percent of its salary cap invested into the defense, while just 28.2 percent of the cap is invested within the forwards.
The front office needs to search out assistance on the blue line. The highest potentially available player is Dougie Hamilton from the Recent Jersey Devils. The team would should be creative with the salary cap to make this move. The Leafs have just $51,705 in cap space currently. Hamilton has a $9 million AAV, meaning Toronto would wish to search out a strategy to shed some salary.
Nylander will not be price trading to the Devils for Hamilton, however the Maple Leafs could package Nicholas Robertson with other players to make the deal.
Hamilton has been a plus defender for much of his profession and can improve the blue line for the team. Beyond that, he’ll help the powerplay. In his profession, Hamilton has found the back of the web 47 times while adding 116 assists on the powerplay.
Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have been solid on defense and good on the offensive end of the ice as well. Still, others haven’t been nearly as good. This has led to the necessity for more blue line help. Hamilton does include the danger of injury. He has not played in all 82 games because the 2022-23 season. Regardless, he put up 74 points that 12 months and had a plus-23 rating. Trading for Hamilton would fix quite a lot of the woes in Toronto currently.