The Toronto Maple Leafs have dropped to 3-2-1 on the year after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Head coach Craig Berube was disappointed in the effort of his team in the game as they struggled throughout. The team is still holding on to a playoff spot, but sitting in third in the division will cause overreaction and the desire 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 year, sitting sixth in the NHL with 3.67 goals per game. Still, they have struggled in other areas. The Maple Leafs are not scoring well on the powerplay, sitting 27th in the NHL in conversion percentage. The club is also 13th on the penalty kill. Further, they are 23rd in goals against per game.
The recent defensive struggles have led to goaltender Anthony Stolarz criticizing the defense. Meanwhile, one of the stars of the team, William Nylander, responded, saying they are all frustrated currently, but still sitting at 3-2-1. Still, the defense has been horrible, and the Leafs may need to make a move.
Could William Nylander be traded?
Stolarz was critical of the Leafs after the loss to the Kraken.
“I mean, a lot of guys have been here for a while. Overtime, you can't let someone beat you up the ice there and gets a clear-cut breakaway,” Stolarz said after the game. “A minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation you gotta work hard … It cost us a point.”
This was directed right at Nylander. He was the one who allowed Josh Mahura to get the breakaway for the goal, his 11th goal of his NHL career. While Nylander then called the team a family in response, it is clear there is a small fracture in the family dynamic. Now, Nylander has become the focus of some ire in Toronto.
“Well, here's what I would say. It feels like there's a new scapegoat in town. It's moved five notches down from 93 to 88. I'll be very clear here. He made a mistake. We know he made a mistake. He's their leading scorer. It just feels again they got to find a scapegoat,” said NHL analyst Craig Button on the TSN OverDrive podcast.
Nylander most likely will not be available for a trade, unless it is for the perfect player. Regardless, the Leafs still may need to make a move.
Who should the Maple Leafs trade for?
It is clear that the Maple Leafs need help on the defensive end of the ice. The team has given up four or more goals in three of their seven games, and has just 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 is facing a bunch of shots and many in high-danger scoring areas.
The major issue has been the blue line. They are allowing those shots and high-danger chances. What is even more disappointing is the 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 in the forwards.
The front office needs to find help on the blue line. The top potentially available player is Dougie Hamilton from the New Jersey Devils. The team would need to 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 need to find a way to shed some salary.
Nylander is not worth trading to the Devils for Hamilton, but the Maple Leafs could package Nicholas Robertson with other players to make the deal.
Hamilton has been a plus defender for much of his career and will improve the blue line for the team. Beyond that, he will help the powerplay. In his career, Hamilton has found the back of the net 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 have not been as good. This has led to the need for more blue line help. Hamilton does come with the risk of injury. He has not played in all 82 games since the 2022-23 season. Regardless, he put up 74 points that year and had a plus-23 rating. Trading for Hamilton would fix a lot of the woes in Toronto currently.
