Toronto Maple Leafs: Jack Campbell, Kyle Clifford trade conditions altered
By James Reeve
The conditions attached to the trade that sent goaltender Jack Campbell to the Toronto Maple Leafs have been altered by the NHL.
With the unusual circumstances surrounding the 2019-20 playoffs, the NHL have decided to make some alterations to conditions placed on trades, affecting the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The original trade saw the Leafs acquire Jack Campbell and physical forward Kyle Clifford in exchange for Trevor Moore, a 2020 third-round pick and a conditional 2021 third-rounder.
The condition on the 2021 pick was determined by the Leafs re-signing Clifford OR whether or not the team made the playoffs and Campbell won six regular-season games in the process.
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Before the season pause, Campbell featured in six total games for the Leafs, holding a record of 3-2-1 with a .915 save percentage and a goals-against-average of 2.63, which meant the Leafs effectively where on their way to only parting with their 2021 third.
With the regular-season cancelled early and the ‘playoffs’ expanded to 24 teams, the league has decided to make changes to a number of conditional trades, including this one by the Leafs.
According to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, the new conditions are: the Leafs re-sign Clifford (unchanged) OR they win their best-of-five qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Campbell earns two wins in that series.
Should either of these conditions be met, the Leafs will need to send their 2021 second-pick to the Los Angeles Kings, but it is unlikely that happens either.
Clifford, who joined the Leafs with 50% of his salary retained by the Kings, is unlikely to be re-signed by the team, largely due to his rumoured asking price of over $2 million per season.
While Campbell has become the darling of the team in the eyes of fans, it’s highly unlikely he will feature in two games against Columbus, let alone have a chance to win two.
Frederik Andersen is the guy between the pipes for the Leafs and they are going to ride him as far as he can take them, especially in the qualifying round.
The Leafs are not the only team impacted by the changes to conditional picks, so it is interesting to see how the league has taken steps to make things fairer, considering the extremely unique circumstances everyone finds themselves in this summer.
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Fortunately for the Leafs, their conditions are very controllable and with very few early-round picks over the next two drafts, it is reasonable to expect only their third-rounder to be sent out west once the play-in round is concluded.