New Jersey Devils: 5 Players To Consider From Toronto Maple Leafs
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils should see if they can help a Maple Leafs restructuring.
The Toronto Maple Leafs changed the fate of the NHL world when they announced the signing of center John Tavares in 2018. With their home-grown talents like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner growing into superstars, it was the development of a possible dynasty. Two years later, and the Maple Leafs have two first-round exits for all the money they are spending.
It’s clear what they are doing isn’t working. They’ve replaced the head coach this year, the general manager position was given to Kyle Dubas (sorry Lou), and they put together a roster that is quite inflexible due to three contracts north of $10 million with massive term to boot.
There’s good news and bad news here. The good news is the only two players signed next season that are over 30 years old are goalie Frederik Andersen (30) and defenseman Jake Muzzin (31). The bad news is the Maple Leafs only have $4.5 million in cap space with largely the same exact roster that has lost in the first round year in and year out. When was the last time the Maple Leafs have won a playoff series? We have to go all the way back to before the lockout. Not the 2012 lockout, the one that canceled the season in 2004.
With a massive fanbase waiting this long for even moderate success, changes have to be coming. There’s no way the Maple Leafs are going into next season with largely the same roster, same coaching staff, same everything when it just hasn’t worked. We’re not saying the Leafs are trading away their core (Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Andersen, and Morgan Rielly), but everyone else should be on the table. The free agents are all likely gone, and the restricted free agents could be had for the right price.
This is where the New Jersey Devils come in. They clearly need more stars. The Devils just need supremely talented players on top of the extremely young players on this roster. They have some decent prospects, but they need NHL players to build around them. A deal is ready if it can be worked out. Plus, some of these free agents might be right for the Devils. There are some players who took off their jersey on Sunday night that will be wearing a red and black one next season.