The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to take the necessary strides to be a strong shutdown team in their own end. They have allowed only 2.84 goals against per game and have allowed the fourth fewest goals against at five-on-five with 91.
While seeing improvements defensively is definitely a positive sign, the Maple Leafs still manage to struggle to produce offensively from the backend. Goals continue to elude the Maple Leafs defenders as it has something they have struggled with for the last couple of seasons. Since Jan. 29th, they ranked last in goals by defensemen with 11. Since then, only two goals came from defenders as they now have 13, which isn’t impressive by any means.
The Maple Leafs don’t have a Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes where they can easily get double digit goals, but you would like to see more of a shooting mentality from the blue line. Which is why it should be another area they address ahead of the trade deadline and they may have a partner out west to do so.
Jake Walman Ideal Target
It’s already been reported that the Maple Leafs have been linked to Luke Kunin of the San Jose Sharks to add some depth to their bottom six. While he could be a target up front, why not make a bigger deal and get a defender that can provide some decent upside from the backend in Jake Walman?
After starting to breakout with the Detroit Red Wings last season where he had 12 goals and 21 points in 66 games, Walman has already surpassed last season’s point production as he has 29 in 44 games. Considering he’s on the Sharks, that’s great production given where they are in the standings. He carries a $3.4 million contract and is signed for another year. Adding him would require to move money out, but also to possibly pay a little more as he’s signed for another season after this one.
Walman has fired 112 shots on goal this season. Compared to the Maple Leafs, Morgan Rielly leads the way with 93 and Oliver Ekman-Larsson is second with 88. Walman would instantly be first in that category, as the volume of shots that he can get on net could help the Maple Leafs be a little more of a shooting threat from the blueline. Even in terms of overall production and goal scoring, he would be ranked first on the team in points and tied for first with Rielly in goals with six.
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