The Toronto Maple Leafs Should’ve Been All Over This Trade.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have already signed Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, more or less fixing their blue-line.
Additionally, the Toronto Maple Leafs have also fixed their goaltending.
Kevin Weekes reported a three-year extension with an AAV of 3.5 to 4 million with Joseph Woll and then on day 1 of free-agency, the Leafs signed Anthony Stolarz, a recent Stanley Cup Champion who backed up Sergei Bobrovsky with the Florida Panthers and only saw action in about half a game during their run.
While that is an inspired choice that may work out well, the Leafs could have had a younger, more successful, arguably much more reliable goalie, but they missed out.
Logan Thompson Would Have Been a Good Fit in Toronto
On day two of the draft, the Washington Capitals acquired 27-year-old goaltender Logan Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights. Washington sent the 83rd overall pick this year as well as a 2025 third-round pick to Vegas in the deal.
This seems like a deal the Leafs could easily have beaten.
Thompson is only a year older than Woll and played 46 games last year for Vegas posting a .908 save percentage, 7.03 goals saved above average and 6.85 goals saved above expected (Stats from EvolvingHockey.com).
Thompson is also making 766k against the cap and is a free agent after this upcoming season. Woll’s cap hit this year is identical to Thompson’s, which would have given the Leafs an extremely affordable tandem going into the season (All salary stats from PuckPedia.com).
With Thompson playing 46 games last year it also would have provided the Leafs with a quality that no other goalie on the market around that salary provides. With Woll’s injury history, having a guy who can play the majority of the games in the season provides the level of stability they need.
The guy they eventually landed on, Stolarz, has not played 30 games in a single season in his career. I believe that if the Leafs made the Thompson trade, it would given them a much better tandem than Woll and Stolarz.
Value deals like this are how you create strong rosters while being able to maintain a roster with big cap hits in the forward core. The Leafs are going to have to settle for a tandem with question marks while paying a free agent around 3 million per year
