Elliotte Friedman Reveals Maple Leafs' Two New Defensive Targets

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Aaron Itovitch
February 22, 2023 (8:44 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are set at forward, but they aren't done adding yet. Elliotte Friedman has revealed the two main targets to bolster the Leafs blueline.

Leafs Defensive Deadline Targets

The Maple Leafs are pretty thin on assets at this point, due to the acquisition of Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues.

This leaves them in a difficult position, where they need an impact piece for cheap. While he gets hated on a lot, Justin Holl is still better than some other defensemen. This means their options are very limited.

Elliotte Friedman, in his most recent iteration of 32 Thoughts has revealed two guys that would make sense, them being Scott Mayfield of the New York Islanders and Radko Gudas of the Florida Panthers.

Mayfield is brilliant defensively and carries only a $1.4-million cap-hit. The only question is if the Islanders are ready to commit to selling for this season.

Gudas is coming off a 2021-22 campaign where he led the league in hits. He is an aggressive physical presence that is hard to play against. He carries a slightly higher cap-hit of $2.5-million. Once again, the only question is if the Florida Panthers are ready to commit to selling.

Defence? Toronto isn't left with much draft capital, so it's either someone you can get for a late-round pick or a current defender goes in return. Radko Gudas and Scott Mayfield are two I've thought about, but their teams are in the race. Luke Schenn being held out indicates he's priced out of their range. Generally though, teams believe there is a surplus of rental defence options and are betting costs soften.

Kyle Dubas needs to be smart here, but after the O'Reilly acquisition that's already looking like a big win, it's safe to have some faith in him.

The only question is if it will pay off where it really counts - the playoffs.