Here's what the Leafs are getting in the newly-acquired Dryden Hunt
The Denis Malgin era has officially come to an end in Toronto. The much maligned trade that sent Mason Marchment to Florida in exchange for the Swiss winger has been a sore spot with fans for several years. Now Kyle Dubas has made a similar trade, a smaller, skilled forward for a larger, more physical player. Except this time, he's on the other end of it.
Dryden Hunt will bring more nastiness to the Leafs bottom 6 while being defensively responsible. His offensive talent isn't much to write home about, he's not here to fill the net. His purpose will be to start in the D zone, get it deep in the opponents zone then punish anyone who touches the puck until one of the big lines can get over the boards.
As the chart shows, his defensive impact is much better than his offensive ability, which is basically non-existent, though he did surpass the 20-goal mark twice at the AHL level.
Having said that, there's no part of that chart that accounts for this:
Sheldon Keefe was asked after practice today about what Hunt will bring to the Leafs:
In short, Dryden Hunt is a physical bottom 6 forward who's game translates well to playoff hockey, very similar to Zach Aston-Reese. A line of Hunt-Kampf-ZAR will be a miserable, slow paced slog for opponents. This is a nice little move for Dubas. Even if Hunt isn't an everyday player for the Leafs, his physicality alone is more valuable than Malgin's contributions so far this season.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 19 | 230 ANSWERS Here's what the Leafs are getting in the newly-acquired Dryden Hunt How would you grade this move by Dubas | ||
| A/A+ | 62 | 27 % |
| B/C | 138 | 60 % |
| D | 18 | 7.8 % |
| F | 12 | 5.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
