Leafs acquire highly-touted defenseman from Arizona
With the news of Morgan Rielly being out for 4-6 weeks and the Leafs already without T.J. Brodie and Jake Muzzin, it was only a matter of time before Kyle Dubas made a trade to address the situation. This afternoon, Dubas traded for yet another Soo Greyhound and acquired Conor Timmins from Arizona in exchange for Marlies forward Curtis Douglas.
Timmins is a big, 24-year-old, right-shot blueliner that was a 2nd round pick in the 2017 entry draft. Injuries have prevented Timmins from securing a spot on Arizona's blueline and they were afraid of sending him down to Tucson as he would have had to clear waivers. Timmins has played just 2 games so far this season and only 8 the past two years, but he will provide the Leafs with some much needed size and depth on the back end.
Despite being a second rounder, Timmins was actually ranked 18th overall by NHL Central Scouting in his draft year. He played a career-high 31 games with the Avs in 2020-21 but was hard-pressed to land a full-time gig on an already loaded Avs blueline. Thus, he was used as the centerpiece in a trade to acquire a goaltender - Arizona's Darcy Kuemper. It worked out pretty well for Kuemper and the Avs, who skated away with a Stanley Cup this past summer.
Timmins, a native of St. Catherines, Ontario, grew up a huge Leafs fan and actually interviewed with the Leafs during the NHL's draft combine ahead of the 2017 draft. He was very hopeful that the Leafs were going to draft him, but instead they went with Timothy Liljegren, who slipped from the top 5 right into their laps at 17th overall. Timmins must be over the moon to have landed in Toronto 5 years later.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 23 | 400 ANSWERS Leafs acquire highly-touted defenseman from Arizona How do you think the Leafs did in their trade for Conor Timmins? | ||
| Leafs won the trade | 324 | 81 % |
| Coyotes won the trade | 76 | 19 % |
| List of polls | ||
