Toronto Maple Leafs: Bench, trade rumor and 2 games
The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Calgary Flames in a very sloppy game, but still won.
At best, the Toronto Maple Leafs deserved to win.
The Flames may have scored 4 times 2 goals on the Leafs at 5-5, but this was ultimately a game where the Leafs were significantly better than their evenly matched opponent. (statistics at naturalstattrick.com).
The Leafs took scoring chances at will and only a great play by Vladar and a poor play by Wolle ended this game. Nick Robertson looked particularly impressive and even Jake McCabe played well in his return to the lineup. The new third line, the absence of John Klingberg, and the fact that the 4th line was barely played at all were big factors in the Leafs overwhelming their opponent for the first time in a long time.
Tonight’s game is surprising, but still absolutely miserable against the Canadians. The NHL poster shows how people live in the immediate present and never take advantage of the many great predictive tools at our disposal. The shots of the Canadians smack of what their current madness is showing.
This is the perfect opportunity for the Toronto Maple Leafs to take advantage of a weak opponent and put together a little streak. The worst player in the NHL is on the bench, 13 games too late. Instead, the Leafs will play Bobby McMann and hope to get the same results they got from rebuilding their third line, which turned out to be a pretty great combination (Domi centering Robertson and Jarnkrok).
Unfortunately, with the good news comes the bad: John Klingberg is returning to the lineup. I don’t understand why anyone thinks this is a good idea.
This is not a good idea. Ilya Samsonov is also at the beginning.
As for trade rumors, Nikita Zadorov is the topic because he requested a trade. The Leafs have already been linked to Calgary, so this is just more fuel to the fire.
The 6’8 pending UFA, who makes just under $4 million, is a player the Leafs will definitely be interested in. A good defensive player who is overrated because he’s huge, Zadorov is expensive for what he brings, and unless he’s cheap enough, there are probably better options out there. Of course, if Calgary took Klingberg and the draft pick was 3rd-5th, I would be thrilled with such a deal. The only thing I have against Zadorov is that these types of players are usually overrated (just look at his salary) and he is probably overpaid.
Remember that Zadorov is a very average player. He would be a nice addition, but he is not a game changer and the Leafs should pay accordingly.
