Kind of feels like Toronto just made a swap to trade a depth LD for a depth RD, where they had fewer options, giving up a little bit of upside to do so.

St. Louis therefore wins, but I'd guess Toronto knew that when they made the trade.

he has top 4 upside it's a far stretch but he can reach that under the right circumstances

It's unlikely. He's a strong hitter and has decent D coverage, but a bit of a cinder block on skates with his strides. Can get caught out of position and doesn't offer a ton of upside on the offense category. I still think STL might be getting the better player, but that's also because I'm unfamiliar with Schmaltz's game. Borgy's younger so there's that, but Leafs need RHD so somewhere it makes sense for both teams. At 25 I hope Jordan can find his game as a no. 5/6 option. It's a battle between Holl and him now!

Also, I'm think this means Leafs are thinking Sandin makes opening right 3rd pair LHD (in Dermott's absence) and either Liljegren, Holl or Schmaltz as RHD. A Sandin - Liljegren pairing is intriguing for me!!

Well Schmaltz doesn't warrant a Top 6 spot on any team he was waived through and no one tried to get him. Borgman might be a risk he is still very good.

OK someone needs to fill me in on why Schmaltz is horrendous and Borgman is amazing ... I honestly don't know whats up here.

- Borgman is 24 and Schmaltz is 25
- Borgman has 11 NHL points and Schmaltz has 5
- They have both played around 45 NHL games

But their AHL numbers tell a different story:

Schmaltz = 188 GP - 98 PTS - 0.52 Points Per Game
Borgman = 85 GP - 28 PTS - 0.33 Points Per Game

Why is Schmaltz a plug and Borgman a potential top 4 defender?

What am I missing?

Schmaltz wasn't injured for most of the season like Borgman, and 2 Schmaltz is all offense, but when he tried to transition that talent on the NHL Level. He never took off so they were sending him back down, and he passed through the Waivers. Injury risk player vs. player who just can't do the same thing on the NHL Level.

Interesting in many CapFriendly posts, all the Leaf Dmen are considered horrible by non Leaf fan, and now an Marlie is considered a starting six guy for the Cup champs

Borgman never made the Leafs when he was healthy (which was most of his time here) and wasn't going to make the team this year.

He's a LD and has always been stuck behind a combination of:

Rielly
Muzzin
Gardiner
Dermott
Marincin
Rosen
Gravel
Sandin
Harpur

LOL yeap ...

I almost wrote the same comment but I didn't want the backlash to put my family in danger ...

- Kadri just became an ELITE second line center overnight
- Brown is officially a lock for 25 goals / 50 points + upside
- Zaitsev is a clear top 4 D who wasn't being used properly
- Leivo is slowly replacing Boeser as Vancouvers #1 sniper
- Sparks will be taking Fleury's job within a season or two

And this is just another big L for Dubas ....

..

I like Kadri but he certainly was a big difference offensively....except when he played LW on the PP. He's between 2C and 3C. I thought that was a a great trade. Kerfoot and Kadri can considered somewhat equal and the Leaf got a retained Barrie for Rosen. I found Zaitsev OK but like the fact that Leafs will have 4.5m in cap next summer, wonderful. Leafs may not be as good as last year due to UFA defections....what can you do, but I think Dubas has had a fine off season. Of course the Marner contract still. has be resolved ...but so are other teams.

Depth trade, Leafs need RHD.
They have a plentory of LHD.

Question is does he beat out Holl for a job???

Good point.
It's funny thinking of all the ACGM's where people here had Kadri going for Barrie and other teams' fans would laugh off said trades.

There's plenty of Leafs hate going around even in this thread.

i just believe there were better options for a rhd than schmaltz

every move the leafs make will be heavily analyzed. in the long run this trade is not going to matter.

40 comments on a trade that's completely irrelevant...only in Maple Leaf land

St. Louis gets more in this deal, they take advantage of being well situated on the right side to get the slightly more talented and still waiver eligible player.

Toronto adds a RHD which is a position they are very limited on. It may allow them to be a little more patient with Liljegren, and they seem to be collecting "project D". So far none of these has worked, but overall we are talking about a swap of minor league/fringe NHL players, the potential loss or gain for either team is extremely limited. It's a clear win for St. Louis, but it's a clear win in the same way swapping an early 6th round pick for a late 5th is a win, unlikely to amount to much.

At what cost though? I'm not sure they want to trade away Liljegren, Sandin and Bracco.
And salary wise? They cleared up cap space to insure Marner can be signed once the season starts.

Toronto can only make one more trade this month. They're getting close to the GM Game monthly trade limit.

Nvm forgot the Barrie trade ... they're at the trade limit ...

Well, the offseason limit is 20 in the GM Game lol