It's early, but the Leafs appear to have dodged a bullet ahead of the trade deadline
The Leafs were one of the busier teams at this year's trade deadline, completing trades to bring in 6 new bodies ahead of the playoffs. The Buds addressed needs among their forward groups and on defense, bringing in 3 new forwards and 3 new defensemen in the form of Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari, Sam Lafferty, Jake McCabe, Luke Schenn and Erik Gustafsson.
Now, with nearly a month having passed since each of their deals were completed, we're starting to see things take shape in Toronto. They have a formidable bottom six, an abundance of defensemen who can all play minutes in the NHL and with all 3 goaltenders having the ability to give the Leafs quality starts, we're beginning to see signs of what looks like a legitimate playoff contender take shape.
The Leafs were linked to a number of players before the deadline who could have helped them in the top six, but in Kyle Dubas' mind, O'Reilly was the piece with the best change to help the team succeed. The move made the Leafs deeper down the middle of the ice and, as we saw glimpses of before his injury, O'Reilly also makes the top 6 more dangerous when lined up alongside John Tavares and Mitch Marner. More than anything, the O'Reilly deal gives the Leafs a lot of different looks in the middle six, which is exactly what this team needed.
One of the names who the Leafs were linked to prior to the O'Reilly deal was Timo Meier, formerly of the San Jose Sharks. As we all know Meier was dealt to the New Jersey Devils in a deal involving an incredible 13 pieces being swapped between the two teams.
Meier was viewed as arguably the biggest piece available ahead of the deadline, and as such, we knew the deal would be a big one. Thankfully for the Leafs, Kyle Dubas didn't like the acquisition cost and went in another direction. Right now, it's looking like it's a good thing that he did.
Many were of the mindset that Meier would step into a high octane offense in New Jersey and completely flourish, exploding offensively. After all, he put up 52 points in 57 games on a bottom-feeding Sharks team. The sky seemed to be the limit with a top team like New Jersey. Well, as fate would have it, things haven't worked out that way.
So far, through 12 games with the Devils, Meier has scored just 4 goals and added 2 assists for a total of 6 points - a total well below the pace he was on in San Jose prior to the deal. Had Meier been dealt to the Leafs and only produced 6 points in his first 12 games, it would be the hottest story in hockey and I'm sure that many would be calling for Dubas' head right now and crucifying Sheldon Keefe for not getting more out of the superstar winger. The fact that he's not criticized more openly for his lack of production in New Jersey shows the double-standard that exists within mainstream sports media.
Granted, O'Reilly got hurt right away and missed a month of action, and also granted that he had gone 4 and a half games without a point before suffering that injury, but I'd like to think that a Stanley Cup Champion and Conn Smythe Trophy winner would get a bit of a vote of confidence, seeing as how his impacts in the playoffs are well-documented.
Meier did suffer an injury and miss some time himself before making his Devils debut, so maybe he's just now getting up to speed, but the early returns so far aren't excellent and it's also still possible that he takes his qualifying offer of $10M and walks as a UFA in the summer of 2024, which would be a nightmare scenario for the Devils, given what they gave up for him. All of this to say that the Leafs may have dodged a bullet with Timo Meier.
| POLL | ||
MARS 27 | 693 ANSWERS It's early, but the Leafs appear to have dodged a bullet ahead of the trade deadline Did the Leafs dodge a bullet by passing on Timo Meier? | ||
| Yes | 421 | 60.8 % |
| No | 88 | 12.7 % |
| We won't know until after the playoffs | 184 | 26.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
