Early returns on Jake McCabe excellent for the Leafs

Arguably the toughest part of bringing in several new faces at the deadline is getting them acclimated to the new systems and allowing them time to gel with their new teammates. While the fit has been fairly seamless so far, there is still some room for improvement. However, it's tough to look at the impact that McCabe has had for the Leafs so far and declare the move anything other than a resounding success.

McCabe has suited up in 4 games for the Leafs so far, exceeding 20 minutes of ice time in 3 of his 4 games - all of which have been on the road. He has been credited for 7 hits, 5 shot blocks (including a very important one in the dying seconds of last night's game to help preserve the 1-goal lead), 1 fight, 19 penalty minutes and 6 shots on goal over that span, but most importantly, the opposition has not scored a goal with McCabe on the ice as a Leaf. He's been everything that we hoped he'd be and more.

The best thing about the McCabe acquisition is that he's still signed for two additional seasons and, thanks to the salary retention from Chicago, he's on the books for just $2M per season in Toronto. This is the type of player that the Leafs can win with. I know that many in Leafs Nation are sour that the Leafs went out and traded for a 29-year-old with term only to turn around and trade 22-year-old Rasmus Sandin, but it's important to note that most of Sandin's positive impacts were felt way down the depth chart on the third pair. McCabe, on the other hand, is an impact player for the Leafs higher on the depth chart. He's logging bigger minutes against tougher competition and his defensive impacts are stronger than Sandin's. That's simply worth more to this team at this point.