The Perfect West Coast Trade Target For The Maple Leafs Emerges

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Graham Montgomery
October 25, 2023 (9:20 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have been reportedly involved in trade talks in recent days. While the team may be looking for another defenseman, one area where they can potentially stand to improve would be at center. Specifically, their 3rd line center.

Fans Speculate About Adam Henrique

As it stands, David Kampf is centering the Leafs' 3rd line with Max Domi and Matthew Knies serving as his wingers. While Kampf is a perfectly fine hockey player, the team may look to upgrade on that position prior to another playoff run. One player Leafs fans have pointed to is Anaheim's Adam Henrique. This specific subject was discussed on the Leafs Nation podcast earlier today.

I'm going to make a prediction right now. And again, we'll talk about a common friend. And again, I think for the Leafs right now, if they add a player like your friend Adam Henrique, and that's a guy that I was on the ice with all summer, this guy is legit.

He is legit. And I could see him in that top six or that top line really making some big, big plays. And I think he'd be a perfect. Fit, professional by every letter of the law. His father in law is stumpy. Thomas. So there's the correlation to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And I disagree. I think he'd be a perfect third line center. What's the big issue with this team right now? They can't find a third line center. And the thing with Rico, it's his contract, right. I think you have to get as close to deadline date to pull off a transaction like that.

But, yeah, I'm not just saying that because he's my budy, but I think it would be a good fit on top of that. He's a guy who's just scratching and clawing. He wants to win. That's all that matters to him. The points don't matter. He's well liked in that Ducks room.

He wears the letter for a reason, but it's more so like he wants to get back to the playoffs. Like, if you remember, one of his first big goals in his career was scoring to send the Devils, I think, to the Stanley Cup Final. Right. Take on the Los Angeles Kings all those years.

Like, he's a clutch player, and he's a guy who can get the job done when it matters. And they're always looking for that tertiary scoring. Right, Stewie? Yeah, that tertiary, I think I've trademarked that, too. And I think for him,

you watch a lot of games on TV, but being on the ice with him, seeing his individual skill, I was shocked. He could make some plays. And I said the same thing with Phil Di Giuseppe, and a lot of people called me out on this last year. I'm like this guy's.

An NHL guy could score ten to 15 goals, and he's on his way to doing that. I think with Rico again, he could score 25-25 easily. Right. And he could be that tertiary scoring guy that played win some face offs. He can play on the wing as well.

He's a Swiss Army knife type of player, and I think every team that's contending needs a player like that. Kills penalties as well. So, yeah, we're fully endorsing that.

Henrique, 33, has two points through 5 games this season on a horrendous Ducks team. Last year he put up 22 goals and 38 points in 66 games. He would certainly be an upgrade over Kampf as a 3rd line center but he does come with a 5.825 million dollar cap hit. With the Leafs already up against the cap in a major way, figuring out how to make a trade for him would be complicated. Anaheim would almost certainly have to retain 50% of Henrique's salary and a 3rd team would likely have to do the same. That would get him down to about a 1.5 million dollar cap hit.