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By all means, Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, get Seattle Kraken captain Mark Giordano if you can.
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No team that has ever gone on a Stanley Cup run has got to the end and complained it had too many defencemen.
Adding Giordano, a Toronto native who is in the last year of a contract that comes with a cap hit of $6.75 million US, would amount to more than bringing another body into the defense corps.
The experience and leadership qualities of the 38-year-old would be a boon for any National Hockey League club that thinks it can go deep into the spring.
“He has been a very good player in the league for a long time,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said about Giordano when the Kraken was in town to face the Leafs last week. “He’s versatile and helps teams in all sorts of ways. He has a great character.”
In 55 games with the expansion Kraken, Giordano has 23 points and has averaged 21 minutes 29 seconds of ice time a game. With the Leafs, he would not be pressed into tougher minutes, and would be of better value if his minutes hovered in the range of 18 a game.
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The asterisk that comes with trying to get a player of Giordano’s stature would be the asking price. What would Dubas, who said at the mid-way point of the season that the Leafs were “in a mode now where we’re trying to win,” be willing to send to Seattle? A first-round pick and a prospect? Would the GM be willing to part with a similar package to acquire defenseman Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks? And what would he have to give to the San Jose Sharks for Jacob Middleton? A second-round pick and a prospect? What would go the other way to get Scott Mayfield from the New York Islanders or Justin Braun from the Philadelphia Flyers?
The market for defensemen has shrunk considerably, with Josh Manson and Ben Chiarot already traded, John Klingberg off the table in Dallas and Jakob Chychrun injured in Arizona.
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If only the issue of adding a solid defenseman was all that Dubas had on his mind with the NHL trade deadline looming at 3 pm on Monday.
As goes the unwritten rule, a team’s success in the post-season hinges on the play of its goaltender(s), and we know what has become of Jack Campbell’s regular season, never mind the disappointment that Petr Mrazek has been in the first season of a three-year contract.
Campbell has been out of service for the past week with a rib injury and Keefe indicated that progress is being made by the goalie. Once he returns, will Campbell be the guy who earned a trip to the all-star game or the one who has been inconsistent for the past few months?
There aren’t any easy fixes on the market in goal. On defence, the options are there for Dubas. Adding another to the group would be wise.
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game on
Erik Kallgren is turning out to be a heck of a short-term solution, eh? Yes, there was some luck involved for the Leafs goaltender against the Hurricanes in his second NHL start, such as Jordan Staal hitting the post in the second period. But there were some large saves as well, including a stretch pad save on Brady Skjei early in the second, as part of Kallgren’s 34-save performance in the 3-2 win … The Hurricanes are sharp at keeping the opponent from the front of their net, and partly as a result, the Leafs had just 12 shots on goal through two periods. They scored on two of their better chances, with goals coming from an Ilya Mikheyev backhand and off a Mitch Marner rush. The Mikheyev goal was the kind of softy that Leafs know well from Frederik Andersen’s tenure in Toronto … Ondrej Kase has scored in three consecutive games for the second time this season and third time in his NHL career. If we’ve seen a prettier saucer pass recently than the one William Nylander made to set up Kase in the third, we don’t recall it … Keefe’s patience with the Leafs’ penchant for taking bench minors is done. In the third, the Leafs were called for too many men on the ice, their NHL-high 12th bench minor. “It’s unacceptable,” Keefe said. “It has now reached the point of embarrassment. We have to be better than that. As much as I was happy with the win, that was at the top of my list to talk about with the team. Enough is enough.” … John Tavares won 10 of his 14 faceoffs from him. His teammates won 10 of 19 … Another game, another physical outing for Ilya Lyubushkin, who led the Leafs with seven hits … Toronto Marlies goalie Joseph Woll will be evaluated after leaving the team’s 3-0 win against Hershey on Thursday with a shoulder injury. Woll made 21 saves before he was hurt, and Michael Hutchinson came in to make 20 saves as two Marlies goalies combined for a shutout for the first time in team history. Joseph Blandisi, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and Brett Seney scored for Toronto.
