Leafs must remain patient ahead of NHL trade deadline

As much as the Leafs would like to boost their blue line as soon as possible, they really need to wait until as close to the March 21 trade deadline as possible.

Despite losing to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, the Leafs remain on pace to break their record of 105 regular season points, which was set in 2017-18. However, there isn’t quite so much confidence in their defensive play, especially of late.

Some critics will point to Jack Campbell in particular. Following the 5-2 loss in Calgary, he has now allowed five goals in four of his last eight starts.

In fairness to Campbell however, he is likely just dealing with a temporarily loss of form (and confidence) after shouldering the load and covering for others during the majority of this season. The reality remains that it is the blue line which needs boosting.

As such, the Leafs have been linked to a variety of players as we head towards the March 21 NHL trade deadline. In an ideal world, they would like to add a quality right-shot defenceman as soon as possible.

Unfortunately for Toronto this is not an ideal world, with them actually having to be patient while also doing a number of things to maximise their position ahead of the deadline. And even this approach is compromised to a certain extent, when considering that taxi squads have now been removed.

As a result of this, the Leafs have loaned Kyle Clifford and Nick Ritchie to the Marlies. Understandably, neither player was happy about this, but it was a necessity.

Toronto was able to entirely clear Clifford’s cap hit of $1 million, but it was a different story with Ritchie. With a salary of $2.5 million, $1.375 million (pro-rated) of this had to be counted against the Leafs’ salary cap.

As per Brian La Rose of Pro Hockey Rumors, the Leafs will also aim to go with as close to a minimum-sized roster as feasible. La Rose added that Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren can be moved back and forth between the Leafs and Marlies, without requiring waivers.

Interestingly, no matter how patient Toronto is, their financial position won’t be particularly good. As per CapFriendly, they are projected to have $1,016,150 of cap space available, and only if they do wait until the deadline before making a trade.

Adding to the Leafs’ financial limitations ahead of the trade deadline, is their salary cap situation next season. The reason this is relevant, is because general manager Kyle Dubas’ preference is to trade for a defenceman who is not on an expiring contract.

Dubas confirmed this during his media availability on Sunday, but making it happen will be a challenge to say the least. Consider that for next season, Toronto already has a cap hit of $74,155,616.

Making this worrisome is that the figure accounts for just 14 players plus Ritchie, assuming he is with the Marlies. The Leafs have several players set to become unrestricted free agents including Campbell, who is projected for a considerable payrise on his current salary of $1.65 million.

Adding to Toronto’s precarious financial position is the current NHL salary cap of $81.5 million. As things stand it is only set to go up by $1 million next season, which is hardly going to help Dubas and company.

Taking everything into account, the Leafs will need to be as smart and creative as they are patient on the approach to the trade deadline. You imagine high draft picks will have to be considered in any potential trade, although this should not be an issue given the team previously moved their first rounders in 2019 and 2021.

How confident are you the Leafs will get the blue line help they need between now and the trade deadline? Is there anyone in particular you would realistically like to see them obtain? Let us know in the comments section below.