Maple Leafs Trade Rumours: Trouble With Trouba
Apr 7, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba (8) looks to be the perfect partner for Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, but will it happen? Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
When you look up and down the lineup that Brendan Shanahan, Lou Lamoriello and company have assembled for the Toronto Maple Leafs going forward, there are some noticeable holes. The organization has a stupid amount of depth on the wings, although there isn’t a lot of size.
Goaltending doesn’t really have a lot of sure-fire NHL potential as Sparks doesn’t look like he can cut it, while Bibeau is an up and down roller coaster and it is too soon to judge Joseph “Brick” Woll. Center ice has come a long way with the addition of Auston Matthews, even if Nylander and Marner will ultimately play wing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On defence there is a lot to be excited about in the lower half of the lineup as Viktor Loov, Rinat Valiev, Frank Corrado, Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen all look like potential No.4-6 d-men.
With the addition of Matthews and Frederik Andersen this summer, the Leafs immediate needs shifts to the blue line and specifically the right side where they now have no proven Top 4 options. Yes, Nikita Zaitsev has been tearing it up at the World Cup, but he still hasn’t played a single minute of NHL action.
It used to be that Teams just never traded top pair quality young Dmen but the past two seasons we have seen several young, and elite right-handed puck carriers moved to greener pastures for the right fit. This is where Jacob Trouba falls into the Leafs crosshairs. Winnipeg Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba has officially requested a trade through his agent as of a few ays ago. If you haven’t heard the full story, Tim Chiasson has you covered right here. The Jets have some needs, mostly at Left Handed Defence and Center depth and with the Leafs bounty of prospects there is a deal here to be made for both sides.
Apr 13, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; PK Subban is one of many elite RHD traded in recent years. Will Jacob Trouba join this ever growing list? Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Comparable RHD Recently Traded
Let’s take a look quickly at some of the most recent trades involving young, promising Defenceman to get a basis for our ArmChair GM Caps.
Another one-for-one blockbuster trade from this summer that shook the hockey world. Again, we see a very prominent young player in Taylor Hall moved for the youth and handedness of the silky smooth Swede Adam Larsson. Although a big time overpay by the Oilers, you do get a sense here that the market for young right-handed dmen is very steep. One thing working against Trouba’s value here is he’s an RFA and needs to be signed still, likely to a 5M+ contract, where as Larsson is locked in for several more years at a very cheap rate.
Only the Nashville Predators could trade away talented players like Seth Jones and Shea Weber and arguably have a better D-core afterwards. This trade again shows you have to give, to get. Columbus traded talented, but troubled No.1 center Ryan Johansen for a former No.4 overall pick and legit Top pairing blue liner in Seth Jones who was just buried on the Predators stacked D-core.
Finally, we get to a trade that fits the Trouba situation a little more closely. Dougie Hamilton was a top pick in his draft and quick riser on a Bruins team in salary cap troubles. While he was proving that he clearly belonged in the NHL in a top4 role and was starting to put up numbers at the NHL level, Hamilton was still the Bruins 3rd best Dman at the time of the trade. Edmonton reportedly forced the Bruins hand a bit by threatening an offer sheet for Hamilton, so the Bruins to spite their former GM Peter Chiarelli went and traded Hamilton to the Oilers bitter rivals the Calgary Flames.
Hamilton was an unsigned RFA, like Trouba, who wanted more than his team thought he was worth. Hamilton, like Trouba, was a high draft pick who was slightly buried on the depth chart. Hamilton is a two-way, offensively capable, right-handed Dman, like Trouba.
The value the Bruins got in returned for essentially an unsigned player was good, with a mid-round 1st and two high 2nds netting the Bruins some valuable future assets. Where this trade differs from the Trouba situation is that the Jets, although an internal cap team, have almost 7M in cap space and no one else to sign besides Trouba to fill their roster.
Another surprise blockbuster with a lot of young prospects and proven names going both ways. Winnipeg in hindsight got the better end of this deal by a bit, but then it was believed Evander Kane could mature out of the off-ice problems that were plaguing him in the ‘Peg.
Top line winger, top 4 physical defenceman and a half decent goaltending prospect for 2 solid B level prospects, a 1st round pick in a deep draft and the main reason we’re talking about Trouba being traded now – former Calder Trophy winner and behemoth Dman, Tyler Myers.
This trade essentially boils down to Winnipeg giving up the better player, but also a player that wanted out and some other nice pieces to get younger but also immediately fill the hole they created by trading Bogosian. Could something similar be done with Trouba?
Jan 2, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Jake Gardiner, a LHD, may be Toronto’s most appealing trade asset to acquire Jacob Trouba. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Trouba Trouble On Twitter?
I posed the question “What would it take to get Trouba from you?” to several Jets blogs and their followers and the general consensus was “Mitch Marner” or “Jake Gardiner and a 1st”. When I asked the same question to you; Leafs Nation, the responses ranged from “Gardiner, Kapanen and a 2nd” to “Bozak, Corrado and a 3rd”. So there is some definite discrepancy here to perceived value for Jacob Trouba among the fan bases.
Generally speaking, a players true value usually lies somewhere between the two fan bases expectations, siding slightly more with the team giving away the better player.
It is human nature not to want to trade away your best stuff, and instead heap multiple “lesser” things together to make up for the lost value. However, this isn’t how trades work anywhere outside of EA Sports NHL video games.
Do The Leafs Have Anything To Offer For Trouba?
If the Leafs are truly going to have an appealing enough offer to tempt Winnipeg into moving a very good young player, at a position thats very difficult to find elite talent outside of the draft, it’s going to cost them.
The Jets are too far along in their draft and develop model to accept a Hamilton style trade for just picks. Winnipeg also doesn’t have the salary cap gun to their head the way Boston did. As a Leafs fan its easy to throw out names like JVR and Bozak and Gardiner when anyone of value pops up linked to the Leafs in trade.
However, all reports are that Winnipeg wants a Lefty Dman of similar age and pedigree back in any deal for Trouba, JVR and Bozak don’t fit this need and Gardiner is 4 years older. Gardiner could be used in a Myers style larger deal, as he would give Winnipeg a second top 4 left-handed Dman to pair with Big Buff or Myers.
Connor Carrick is certainly an appealing piece, after leading the AHL playoffs in scoring and impressing in a brief stint with the Leafs, Carrick is looking like a potential fixture on the Leafs blue line.
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Despite all this, he does not have the pedigree, or the upside of Trouba and would only serve value as part of a larger package.
Martin Marincin is an excellent possession player but is ideally suited to a bottom pairing role and would not ease the Jets long terms needs at D.
Viktor Loov is the kind of open ice hitter that made trading away Phaneuf so easy, but he’s proven to be inconsistent and his true potential is murky at best. Rinat Valiev, Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen are all good prospects, but none of them help the Jets in the here and now.
At forward JVR is he only current Leaf that could generate the kind of immediate value to even be considered in a one-for-one trade but with Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor, the Jets are stacked with young elite offensive Left Wingers.
Nazem Kadri could be intriguing to the Jets as he would allow Bryan Little to either be pushed to No.3 C or to the Right Wing, but the Jets may not value Kadri as enough of an upgrade over Little to have interest.
The Leafs forwards prospect pool is the organizations strength, with names like; William Nylander, Mitch Marner sure to tempt any team, but would the organization allow themselves to part with such elite talents that have galvanized the fan base and sold the youth rebuild for the organization?
Nov 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; JVR and Jake Gardiner are two of Toronto’s most valuable trade chips, will one or both need to go to get a deal done for Jacob Trouba? Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s Make A Trade For Trouba
Well we’ve taken a pretty deep look into other comparable defenseman being moved, as well as what the Jets need and what pieces Toronto might be able to put in play. Now it’s time to actually make a deal! I’ll throw out a few proposals and then we can discuss their merit and why they will or won’t work, as I’m sure you’ll all let me know in the comments below and on twitter @TorrinBatchelor.
Jets get a third pairing replacement for Trouba in Carrick, a more proven offensive weapon for their very young forward core in JVR and a bonus 2nd round pick. This deal would be closest to the Hamilton deal in the sense that it’s a 1st (JVR) and 2x 2nd (Carrick + 2nd) for Trouba. Doesn’t fix Winnipeg’s hole at LHD at all, but gets them some pretty cost-effective value.
The Leafs don’t have to surrender any of them their elite prospects and have 3x 2nd rounders. Highly unlikely that this deal would go through, but it’s not a terrible fall back point for the Jets if the market ends up not being there to trade him.
Again, Connor Carrick immediately replaces Trouba on the third pair, but in this scenario the Jets get their Top 4 LHD in Jake Gardiner. Because of the age discrepancy between Gardiner and Trouba, Kapanen also gets added into this deal adding to the Jets stockpile of Finish Juniors.
The problem with this deal is that the Leafs have no one in the system to immediately replace Gardiner and have essentially filled one hole by creating another. Jets may not like the age discrepancy and may not find Carrick and Kapanen to be enough compensation.
The most drastic trade proposed so far, the Leafs give up arguably their 2nd best prospect and one of their 3 2nd round picks to land Trouba. This trade doesn’t create any holes in the Leafs lineup, and although Marner is looking like an absolutely elite scoring talent, the Leafs have a ton of depth on the wing.
The Jets don’t get their immediate help on D or a replacement for Trouba, but do add to an already terrifying forward core. Leaf fans would riot and Jets fans would feel cheated this season, but long-term it fills holes for both teams, no matter how much it may hurt Leafs nation.
A Tyler Myers style blockbuster trade, with multiple key pieces going both ways. The Leafs get their top pairing partner for Morgan Rielly, a potential goalie of the future in Eric Comrie and take back Drew Stafford’s just over 4M salary cap hit for 1 year. The Jets, get a legitimate 1st line 30 goal winger which allows them to shuffle either Laine or Ehlers to the RW and have a truly deadly top 6 forward group.
They also get their top 4 LHD in Marincin, although he doesn’t have the same “sex appeal” as Jake Gardiner, is an excellent possession player. The Jets also nab Connor Carrick to immediately replace Trouba on the 3rd pairing on the right side, add another high-flying Fin to their prospect cupboard and recoup a 2nd round pick in this years draft. It fills all the needs for both teams, if admittedly not as star struck as I’m sure many fans would like to see a blockbuster.
Wrap Up:
So, we’ve looked at recent deals involving similar players. We’ve talked about why the Leafs could use Trouba and what holes the Jets have, and finally, you’ve seen my trade proposals. So let me know what you think. Will the Leafs trade for Jacob Trouba?
Should they? Will any of my proposed deals work? Which one is the best, or are they all terrible? What is Jacob Trouba worth to you? All of the answers to these questions and more on Twitter @Torrinbatchelor, give me a shout and lets keep the discussion going.
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