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Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 teams to call to trade for a defenceman

By David Morassutti

COLUMBUS, OH - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs talks to his players during a time out in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 20, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Toronto 4-2. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs talks to his players during a time out in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 20, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Toronto 4-2. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
COLUMBUS, OH – DECEMBER 20: Head coach Mike Babcock of the Toronto Maple Leafs talks to his players during a time out in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 20, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Toronto 4-2. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /

The Toronto Maple Leafs blueline continues to be a hot topic but in order to get a deal done but which teams should the team be looking at?

Any improvements that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to make to their defence were only going to come via internal options or the trade market.

Free agency continues to be slim pickings with Calvin de Haan being the only player rumoured to be on the team’s radar. He decided to take a four-year $18.2 million contract which was probably more than what the Leafs were going to offer.

So where does that leave Toronto when it comes to exploring other avenues for improvement? This is how the team’s defence will look like if the team doesn’t make any more moves this offseason.

Leafs_defence_2
Leafs_defence_2 /

Screenshot courtesy of

dailyfaceoff.

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Obviously, that does not include any of the defencemen that will be playing for a spot on the Leafs roster or will likely be with the Toronto Marlies next seasons like; Igor Ozhiganov, Justin Holl, Martin Marincin, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen and Jordan Subban.

Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun reported that the Leafs expect Ozhiganov to compete for a spot on the depth chart right away but whether that’s in a top-four spot remains to be seen.

Having Ron Hainsey play as many minutes as he did last season would not be ideal considering how much he was used on the penalty kill. If the team can find someone to take his spot in the top four and pushing the 31-year-old down to the third pairing.

This is where the Leafs could look at making a trade but they would have to find a team looking to move out a blueline which will prove to be tough.

Here are four teams that the Leafs could consider reaching out too.

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