Leafs Nation isn't too happy about the Sandin trade right now, but we shouldn't declare the Caps the winners of the deal right away
It's easy to look at the recent trade between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs and declare the Caps the clear cut winners of the deal. The Caps sent Boston's 2023 1st round pick and defenseman Erik Gustafsson to the Leafs in exchange for 22-year-old Rasmus Sandin, who has been on a tear since landing in Washington. In his first 2 games with the Caps, Sandin has notched 1 goal and 4 assists for a total of 5 points.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Gustafsson has appeared in just as many games with his new team, but failing to produce a single point with the Leafs so far. As far as th 1st round pick goes, it's expected to be a late 1st rounder, and we don't even know what the Leafs plan to do with the pick yet. There's a chance that the Leafs use the pick to select a player they really like in the 1st round of the draft. There's also a chance that the Leafs trade down out of the 1st round in order to acquire an extra draft pick. The last time the Leafs traded a late 1st, they were able to acquire the pick they used on Sandin, plus the pick they used on prospect Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. The Leafs do have another option available to them involving that 1st round pick. They could use it as the centerpiece of a package to acquire a player they like from another team. Until we know what the Leafs do with that pick, it's really tough to declare a clear-cut winner here - even though Sandin's recent stretch of play has the decision leaning one way.
The fact of the matter is that Sandin is punching above his weight class right now. Even when given opportunities to play in the top-4, Sandin was not producing at anywhere near the rate that he is right now in Washington. He's been afforded an opportunity that won't be available to him once John Carlson and Nick Jensen are healthy. This includes his power play usage, unfortunately.
Gustafsson is an interesting piece in all of this, because when the Leafs acquired him, he instantly became the team leader for points among all defenders. Gustafsson racked up 38 points in Washington before landing in Toronto, which is wild when you consider the fact that he wasn't even a top pairing defenseman. Morgan Reilly, for example, has amassed 32 points this season.
The other factor here is that there are opportunities available for Sandin in Washington that simply aren't there in Toronto. If the Leafs kept Sandin, he'd be 4th on the depth chart on the left side through at least next season. That could seriously stunt his growth as a young defender. Rather than watching an asset continue to depreciate, Dubas was wise to move him for fair value now, rather than lose him for less a year or two down the road.
The Leafs have a lot of hockey left to play, as do the Caps. Declaring a trade winner after 2 games is probably not fair to either side, especially with the 1st round pick being the centerpiece of the trade coming back Toronto's way.
| POLL | ||
MARS 7 | 281 ANSWERS Leafs Nation isn't too happy about the Sandin trade right now, but we shouldn't declare the Caps the winners of the deal right away Who won the Washington/Toronto trade for Rasmus Sandin? | ||
| Leafs | 43 | 15.3 % |
| Capitals | 87 | 31 % |
| Too early to say | 151 | 53.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
