The Toronto Maple Leafs put a focus on defense in the offseason and one trade pitch has them acquiring David Savard from the Montreal Canadiens.
The website PuckPedia has a new tool called PuckGM that lets users create their own trades and one user proposed a deal that would see the Maple Leafs land Savard.
Maple Leafs get:
- David Savard ($1.8 million retained)
- 2025 second-round pick
Canadiens get:
- 2026 first-round pick
On paper, the proposed deal does make sense for both teams as the Maple Leafs add Savard who was a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning team that won the Stanley Cup in 2021. Savard could add some more veteran leadership to the blue line, as he’s entering the final year of his four-year $14 million deal. Last season with the Canadiens, Savard skated in 60 games recording 6 goals and 18 assists for 24 points.
Montreal, meanwhile, would get a first-round pick, although the Habs would part ways with a second-rounder. However, Montreal has plenty of defense prospects who are pushing for NHL minutes, so Savard is expendable.
The Canadiens have Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, Arber Xhekaj, Savard, and Justin Barron as their defenseman. But, former first-round pick and top prospect Logan Mailloux could push for minutes as well as the fifth-overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft David Reinbacher.
Maple Leafs Not Done Making Moves
Toronto did a good job addressing their defense in the offseason by signing Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Although the bulk of their moves have been completed, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving recently revealed his team wasn’t done with moves.
“To me, we’ve still got five weeks or so till camp. And, you know, we’re not set yet. We continue to look at ways to make our team better,” Treliving said on OverDrive on TSN 1050. “I said at the end of the year we’re going to look at everything. Sometimes people fall in love with ‘ ‘let’s make a big change just to make a big change’. At the end of the day, you can go out and make big changes. If they’re not making your team better, to me it doesn’t make any sense to just make a change just to stand up and say ‘look at it, we made this big change.'”
Toronto has just over $1.2 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.
Canadiens Acquire Laine
Montreal made a big move on August 19 as the team acquired former second-overall pick Patrik Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Laine was traded along with a 2026 second-round pick for defenseman Jordan Harris, and Canadiens’ general manager Kent Hughes said he pulled the trigger after he was allowed to talk to Laine.
“Patrik and Don (Waddell) were also gracious enough to let us speak and consult on the medical file and just have the conversations that we felt we needed to have to be comfortable moving forward. And everybody involved came away very comfortable with Patrik. And we also spoke to Patrik about Montreal and the pressure that comes with this market, and he didn’t shy away from it at all. In fact, I think he is looking for this type of a market to come play in,” Hughes told the media.
Laine has two years left on his four-year $34.8 million contract. Last season, he skated in 18 games recording 6 goals and 3 assists for 9 points.
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Trade Pitch Has Maple Leafs Acquiring Stanley Cup Winning Defenseman From Rival