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New Jersey Devils Trade Deadline Profile: Toronto Maple Leafs

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 10: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils checks Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Prudential Center on January 10, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Maple Leafs defeated the Devils 4-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 10: Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils checks Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Prudential Center on January 10, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Maple Leafs defeated the Devils 4-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils are one of the most obvious sellers at this year’s NHL Trade Deadline. With the Toronto Maple Leafs looking to make a move to get into the top of the league, the Devils could help them now and in the future.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hoped their signing of John Tavares this offseason would make them the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Add him to a team that already has Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and this is a monster. However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are running away with the East. They currently have a 13 point lead on the Leafs. Maybe a trade between the Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils could make a deal that helps them get closer.

The Leafs will likely look at the Devils cap space as their biggest asset, while also trying to get a player that can help them right now. This team is going into next season with between $23-25 million in cap space. That sounds pretty good, but that’s without the contracts of Matthews and Marner on the books. Word on the street is Matthews will want somewhere in the $11 million range, and Marner will likely want around $8 million. So basically, that gives the Maple Leafs $5 million in cap space and they still have other players to re-sign.

That’s not an ideal situation, so they can look at this season in two ways. They can either make a trade to shed a big contract, or they could go all in on this season and make cap-saving trades in the offseason.

The Maple Leafs already made a huge trade when they sent their first-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for Jake Muzzin. That takes one of their biggest trade chips off the table, but it also means they will only be looking to tweak instead of going for the big piece. That probably takes the likes of Brian Boyle and Marcus Johansson off the table for them.

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The Leafs are looking to add depth to a team that has the talent to win it all. They don’t want a middle six injury to derail things for them, or have someone on their defense go down and throw things for a loop.

Two players they could target is Mirco Mueller and Ben Lovejoy. Both these players show they can eat up minutes when necessary, and when they are placed in positions of strength they can flourish in their role.

The Maple Leafs penalty kill is middle of the pack, sitting at 80.5% on the season. Lovejoy helps the Devils top line of the penalty kill, and when he went out with injury the team was ranked second in the league. This is the player I think the Leafs focus their efforts on. The Lightning have a lethal power play, and if the Leafs can’t stop it they won’t ever beat them.

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Lovejoy won’t cost much. The Devils will likely start the conversation looking at prospects. Sorry Devils fans, Lovejoy is nowhere near enough to get someone like Timothy Liljegren. They need to look at a prospect who’s close, but is more upside than proven player at this point.

The Devils should focus their efforts on Dmytro Timashov. It still might be too much for the Leafs liking, but you have to give to get in this league. He’s been decent in three years with the Toronto Marlies, but he hasn’t taken that next step to show he can prove himself on the NHL level. He has 87 points in 2+ seasons in the AHL. He’s never had a callup to the NHL, so we don’t really know how he’d react to that.

The deal would be pretty simple. The Leafs get Lovejoy, the Devils take a chance on Timashov, and the two teams swap late-round picks (think fifth or sixth-round picks, moving the Leafs up to the top of that round, but the Devils don’t lose a pick entirely). The Maple Leafs don’t have a lot invested in this prospect, the Devils get someone much closer to being ready than a third- or fourth-round pick in the NHL Draft. This seems like the right move for everyone.

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