Three mock trades between the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs for a goaltender
We know the San Jose Sharks are open for business. Everything has its price, and everything will be available if it is met. This has exceptions, of course, with players like William Eklund being untouchable as they are considered to be part of the next wave of the Sharks’ core. It means that we have a lot of people to talk about when it comes to trade rumors and partners for the San Jose Sharks this season.
One area of the ice that the Sharks are rumored to be moving players is the blue line. The defense is open according to Elliotte Friedman with everyone available at the right price. But that is not what I want to talk about today. There will be teams that want a defenseman and we can talk about them in due time, but it is the crease and that I want to discuss right now for reasons I will explain in a moment.
San Jose’s netminding situation is pretty clear. With Magnus Chrona and Eetu Makiniemi down in the minors, the organization could do with clearing a place on the roster full time for one of the two if they are to find their starter of the future. There’s no point in having NHL ready netminders in the AHL. The debate is whether or not these particular netminders are NHL ready at this moment or whether they could do with more time in the junior league.
This brings us to Kaapo Kahkonen and Mackenzie Blackwood. These two goalies have been very good for the San Jose Sharks so far this season. Tasked with backstopping a rebuilding roster, these two have played very well behind a roster that has extreme flaws. Despite being exposed to things most goaltenders should never find themselves facing, this tandem has held its own against the majority of the league, very rarely costing the Sharks games.
Now, goaltending is a very valuable commodity in this league. There will be a lot of teams looking for help in their crease before the daedline, and the Toronto Maple Leafs may have the most pressing urge at this moment. With Ilya Samsonov bordering on unusable and Martin Jones being Martin Jones as Sharks fans will remember so fondly, the need for a goalie in Toronto seems urgent. Here are three deals that could help these two teams out.
Now, ideally, this would be a second-round draft pick coming back to the Sharks, but the Leafs don’t happen to have one until 2027, and that is just too far away to justify waiting for it. May as well pick up multiple draft picks and a good young player instead of waiting all that time for a second-round pick anyway. This is where I wanted to start with the idea of a Sharks goalie going to Toronto for a few reasons.
The big pull for the Sharks here is Nick Robertson. A young, talented forward, Robertson has been plagued with injury issues since he broke into the league a few season ago. San Jose would be a good place for him to try and come back from his injury concerns. Let him play alongside guys like William Eklund and Tomas Hertl and build his value up, and he himself could be a trade piece for the Sharks if they opt to go that route.
Ilya Samsonov would need to come back for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Leafs would need to do this to have the cap room for Kahkonen. But as a pending unrestricted free agent, Samsonov would be a good candidate to help the Sharks drop a few decisions that may be close with their current good netminders and ensure the best odds at picking first overall.
The two picks are for the combination of taking on Samsonov’s deal as the second worst goaltender in the league by save percentage among all goalies to play in at least 10 games this season, and the upgrade Kahkonen is. I think this is the kind of deal that both teams would do very well from if it was made today. It would make both teams happier with the directions they are headed.
This took some math to make the money work, but this is a unique deal I think Sharks fans may be okay with if the organization was to do it. I think it would certainly be an interesting move for the organization if they were going to do something like this, but it has its benefits as well as being a pain. However, this deal does a lot for both organizations as well and in a potential deal, I think this works.
Toronto’s defense is known to be a problem for the organization. The last time it was league average, the salary cap did not exist so it has been a problem for a few years. That is why Mario Ferraro is included in this deal. He will instantly improve the defense of the Maple Leafs, making them more willing to give up young players and high picks. With the three years Ferraro has left, it would hurt to lose him, but to get a return like this is worth it.
Mackenzie Blackwood would procured from the San Jose Sharks this late spring for pennies on the dollar. Since coming in, he has been downright terrific. It feels somewhat like attempting to exchange a paper cut into a house like the olde recordings on EBay, yet for that reason the return is so enormous. Blackwood additionally has one more year left, making him more attractive for groups pondering his accessibility.
Consequently, Timoty Liljegren is a decent, youthful Swedish defenseman who could fill in for the Sharks on the backend as a band-aid, and possibly even be an exchange piece down the line. He was drafted in 2017, so he’s not a kid any longer, yet this is as yet a player that the Sharks could use in a useful job assuming they decided to. He’s the sort of defenseman that could supplant Ferraro in an exchange.
Samsonov must be incorporated for the cap to work, yet for that reason the primary round pick is incorporated. San Jose has one more opportunity at a defenseman in the draft, similar to an Aron Kiviharju, while the Maple Leafs get numerous resources that they can save for something beyond the one postseason run. It’s anything but that’s employer them for only one season.
This is presumably somewhat more unrealistic, however I think it has more potential gain for the Sharks. We as a whole realize the Sharks prospect pool is missing defensemen of value, so to that end an arrangement like this advances the place of the association in such manner. We as a whole comprehend that the Sharks need assistance for the future on their back end, and they would get that in a move like this one.
Conor Timmins is a defenseman whose stock has appeared to drop over the last couple of seasons. He was highly regarded while playing for the Colorado Avalanche, but injuries have stalled his progress. He’s as yet a quality base matching or extra defenseman, and he has term on an arrangement where he makes $1.1 million a season. He could be future exchange lure as well as a likely fix for the Sharks.
Topi Niemala is a protective possibility that has been exceptionally promoted in the Leafs association. He’s probably not going to be moved, however the Sharks utilizing their last maintenance opening on Kahkonen in a move like this would presumably request a possibility of that quality similarly situated to go the alternate way. It’s anything but a very smart arrangement for one or the other group, yet the return for the two players would make sense of the return.
Since an NHL player and starting goalie will always have more value than a prospect and a bottom pairing defenseman, the draft picks would be used to make up the difference in value. It gives the Sharks the possibility to attempt to snatch an additional possibility out of this arrangement on the draft floor. Great administration could permit the Sharks to make a greater amount of it. What is your opinion?
