Tuesday night in Toronto, there were a dozen teams scouting the Golden Knights and Maple Leafs in a clash of two titans. An interesting detail about these dozen teams scouting the Leafs last night is Toronto is also scouting several of these teams.
Recently, it has been brought up by multiple hockey insiders and analysts that the Leafs are looking at a few of these teams in particular to bring in a top-four defenseman to play alongside Morgan Rielly, preferably a right hand shot. A few standouts from these dozen teams are Matt Roy in LA, Mario Ferraro in San Jose, and David Savard in Montréal.
Roy is a 28-year-old right-shot defenseman who plays over 21 minutes a night in all situations with the LA Kings. He's a solid top-four, two-way defenseman who brings stability to the blueline. He is a UFA at the end of the season but has a reasonable $3.15M cap hit this season. With LA holding onto the 1st Wild Card spot in the West, there's a possibility Roy stays in LA unless the offer is enticing enough.
Ferraro is a 25-year-old left-shot defenseman who averages about 23 minutes a night in all situations with the San Jose Sharks. Like Roy, Ferraro is a solid top-four, two-way defenseman who brings stability to his team's blueline. He has two years remaining after this season at a reasonable $3.25M cap hit. Despite being a lefty, the Leafs are currently linked to him and forward Luke Kunin in San Jose.
Lastly, and the most enticing of the three defensemen is David Savard, a 33-year-old right-shot defenseman who averages over 20 minutes a night with the Montréal Canadiens. He is a rugged defensive defenseman who logs minutes on the penalty kill. He has one year remaining after this season at reasonable $3.5M cap hit.
