Leafs trade young cornerstone defenseman; it looks like Dubas may be preparing for a monster of a deal
Brace yourselves, Leafs Nation, you may not like this one. Per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs have just traded 22-year-old Rasmus Sandin to the Washington Capitals in exchange for veteran offensive defenseman Erik Gustafsson and a 1st round pick. The 1st round pick that the Leafs have acquired in the deal originally belonged to the Boston Bruins.
Sandin was drafted by the Leafs back in 2018 with the 29th overall pick in the draft. He spent a few seasons up and down between the Leafs and the AHL's Toronto Marlies before sticking these past two seasons as a primary NHLer. The recent move to acquire Jake McCabe made it necessary for the Leafs to move out a contract, as they would have been more than $1M over the cap once they activated Matt Murray from LTIR. Sandin just signed a 2-year deal this fall with a $1.4M cap hit. With Gustafsson's $800K cap hit coming in, the Leafs are still short to be able to activate Murray, like they're planning to do this week.
Kyle Dubas must be up to something. We know he needed to move someone, but acquiring another 1st round pick must mean that he has his eyes on another player, and perhaps he needed an extra 1st rounder to push it across the finish line. the Leafs still own their own 2024 1st round pick as well.
Sandin had 20 points in 52 games with the Leafs this season, prior to being dealt to Washington.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 28 | 106 ANSWERS Leafs trade young cornerstone defenseman; it looks like Dubas may be preparing for a monster of a deal Did the Leafs make a mistake by dealing Rasmus Sandin to the Capitals? | ||
| Yes | 40 | 37.7 % |
| No | 66 | 62.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
