Mark Giordano talks about coming home; here's what he brings to the table
The dust has now settled on the trade that brought Kraken captain Mark Giordano home to Toronto, along with forward Colin Blackwell from Seattle in exchange for a trio of draft picks.
While it was long rumoured that Giordano had been eyeing Toronto as a potential landing spot at the deadline, nobody really knew what to expect with the Leafs rumoured to be in on other defenders like Hampus Lindholm, Ben Chiarot and even Jakob Chychrun. Now, with Giordano in the fold, the Leafs are looking to change the narrative that they can't win in the playoffs, which has followed them around for much of the last two decades.
On what it means for Giordano to return home to play for his hometown Maple Leafs and to have a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup, the former Norris Trophy winner had this to say:
To come to my hometown is a nice bonus, but to be able to come to a team that has a real good shot to create some damage in the playoffs is something I'm really excited about."
In terms of what Giordano will bring to Toronto, the NHL Network's Mike Kelly reveals that the 38-year-old excels at killing the opposition's plays, especially on the cycle. In addition, he doesn't turn the puck over often, which should work well with a Leafs team that plays a terrific possession game. Lastly, Giordano has one of the nicer stretch passes in the league. His first pass out of the zone is often tape-to-tape, which helps in terms of setting up rush chances for the Buds.
The Leafs still may have a move or two left in the tank as well, depending on what the plan is for Jake Muzzin and whether or not Petr Mrazek clears waivers. There's also the matter of Ondrej Kase suffering an injury on Saturday in Nashville.
In a perfect world, if the Leafs plan on keeping Muzzin out of action until the playoffs, if Kase joins him on LTIR until the playoffs and if Mrazek is claimed or traded on Monday, the Leafs could have some significant cap space open to make another big move. If not, there's still room for one or two more small moves.
| POLL | ||
MARS 20 | 401 ANSWERS Mark Giordano talks about coming home; here's what he brings to the table Is Mark Giordano enough to help the Leafs snap the first round curse? | ||
| I think they do it this year | 245 | 61.1 % |
| First round? They're going all the way! | 39 | 9.7 % |
| I don't think they'll get it done. | 117 | 29.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
