Leafs named as one of five teams interested in top-4 defenseman
After making a few depth signings at the beginning of free agency, Kyle Dubas said that he and the Leafs were still in the market for a right shot defenseman. The Leafs' right side currently has TJ Brodie, Justin Holl and Timothy Liljegren pencilled in, in that order. Of course, with the Leafs being $1.5M over the cap, adding any big name blueliner will involve moving salary out.
One name the Leafs have been linked to is Arizona Coyotes' defender Jakob Chychrun. The Leafs are one of 5 teams that have shown interest in the blueliner with the others being the Anaheim Ducks, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and LA Kings. The 24-year-old blueliner can play both the left and right side and is under contract for the next 3 seasons at a reasonable $4.6M per season.
The asking price for Chychrun remains high - a pair of first round picks, and a high-ranking prospect. For the Leafs to make the money work without having the Coyotes retain salary, they'll have to move Justin Holl and Alex Kerfoot (possibly in a deal with another club), which would actually leave the Leafs with an additional $900K in cap space after adding Chychrun's salary. Rasmus Sandin could be the high-end prospect heading to Arizona, which would alleviate the issues with having to sign him.
Yes, losing Sandin would potentially hurt the Leafs on the left side down the road, but with Chychrun's ability to play both sides, it will give the Leafs the option to replace Sandin with a defenseman with more versatility. Additionally, the Leafs have Topi Niemela and Mac Hollowell and William Villeneuve in the pipeline. They also signed 24-year-old Victor Mete this summer, who has NHL experience.
It would take a shrewd bit of negotiating by Kyle Dubas to pull off a deal of this size, but it would immediately strengthen the Leafs on the blueline and it would give them some certainty in the future as Brodie and Muzzin's deals are set to expire in just 2 seasons. Having that extra year of Chychrun could prove beneficial.
