The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to do something big to change the trajectory of this team on defense. Whether it comes at the trade deadline or in the offseason, they’ll attempt to make some major changes outside of the core of Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev (if healthy).
The team needs a big, mobile, offensive defenseman who can be a true quarterback on the power play. One of the names they’ve been linked to is Dougie Hamilton of the New Jersey Devils. It’s clear that Jersey wants to move on from him and his $9 million cap hit. And now insider James Mirtle is projecting in The Athletic that Hamilton will land in his hometown of Toronto.
He posits that between the questionable future of Morgan Rielly ($7M cap hit) with the Leafs, and the oft-injured Tanev ($4.5M), there’ll be “cap dollars and big minutes available” for the Buds to make this kind of deal.
But for the Devils, this could only happen under one condition.
I was told by a league source that this was highly unlikely in mid-January, but call me stubborn: There’s a good fit here, should the Devils decide to sell low on the big right-shot defenseman.
The Leafs’ first attempts at a deal here, per the source, were contingent on a lot of retention — understandably not ideal for New Jersey — but what if they opted to take on the bulk of the AAV? Toronto lacks many high-end picks or prospects, but if this becomes a cap dump, Hamilton brings an intriguing mix, including the ability to quarterback a top power play with star talent.
Leafs will need to take on most of Hamilton’s $9M cap hit to make a deal work
It’s certainly an intriguing option that Mirtle brings up. The Leafs wouldn’t have the assets to entice the Devils enough to make a trade, anyway. Toronto has no first-round pick this year or even next year. Not even a second-rounder in the upcoming draft. And trading Easton Cowan or their only viable prospect in Ben Danford would just be foolish.
But, as Mirtle suggests, the Leafs could tempt the Devils by forgetting about retention for the most part, and making this strictly a money move for New Jersey to get themselves a huge chunk breathing room cap-wise. The Devils, at this point, are projected to be the 4th-most cap-encumbered team at the end of the season, at $2.75M over the cap.
With Luke Hughes currently out for several more weeks, perhaps the Devils aren’t in the same kind of rush to purge Hamilton as they were earlier in the year. But then again, sitting second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, 11 points back of a Wild Card spot, the rest of this season should be spent clearing out unwanted salary and prepping for next year for New Jersey.
For Toronto, it would be a big swing. But, writes Mirtle, it just might be the kind of significant move they need to make at this point.
“The Leafs are going to have to get a lot bolder and take some chances to right the ship next season; swinging hard on an oft-injured $9 million reclamation project qualifies.”
