Brad Treliving Urged to Acquire Former Top-5 Pick Following Darren Dreger Latest Report
If the Maple Leafs and Brad Treliving wanted to add a true force to their blueline, a new report from Darren Dreger points to a former Top 5 pick as an option.
There's positivity in the Leafs locker room, at least for now, as the team ended their three-game losing streak and played some of their better even strength hockey on Thursday against New Jersey; defeating former coach Sheldon Keefe all three times this season.
But Brad Treliving still has a lot of work to do regarding the roster construction, and the speculation has run rampant around just who the team can bring in, whether it be a premier pivot, or a shutdown defenseman to help Morgan Rielly.
It's the latter that gained serious traction as NHL Insider Darren Dreger reports that Chicago is entertaining offers for former fourth overall pick Seth Jones.
Seth Jones Being Inquired About By Several Teams; Makes Sense For Maple Leafs
It's no surprise that teams are kicking the tires on Jones' availability as the former fourth overall pick would be an incredible two-way defenseman to bring in.
This season Jones has three goals and 13 assists, but for his career has 93 goals and 328 assists in 826 games; not to mention he's a shot blocking machine and has an average of 136 throughout his 12-year NHL journey.
He's also a right-handed shot, a towering presence at 6'3, 213 pounds, is a solid playoff performer with 24 points in 37 games and still has five years left on his contract; something Toronto could build with when the next crop of players come in.
But his contract is a big caveat, as he makes $9.5M for each of those five seasons and with a 50% retention would still be a $4.75M cap hit that while much cheaper, commits nearly $25M in salary alone for defenseman; a huge financial hit especially given their defenders aren't exactly spring chickens.
Toronto would need to dump at least one or two of their bigger contracts and guys like Conor Timmins, Ryan Reaves, and Calle Jarnkrok might all be in play via trade, or waivers in order to free up space but it could be done.
Seth Jones would be a great fit for the Maple Leafs by adding a complete 200-foot player who has the ability to be a gamechanger, bring some more toughness and help out Morgan Rielly, but he may cost too much for Brad Treliving but it's worth checking out what it would take.
