John Carlson is heading to Carolina, and it's for the Maple Leafs fans to wonder why Toronto wasn't the team that landed him.
Carlson made it clear he wanted to return East after a deadline move to Anaheim, and the Hurricanes pounced on his rights.
-
For a Leafs team searching for a veteran presence and a fix for a power play that has let them down, Carlson checked real boxes, a 2018 Stanley Cup champion, one of the best power-play quarterbacks of this generation, and the kind of steadying, respected voice a young locker room leans on.
However he had been linked heavily to the Tampa Bay Lightning as they were looking to potentially replace Darren Raddysh however the Hurricanes slid in to steal him.
Carolina moved to grab Carlson and Toronto stayed on the sidelines
So why didn't Toronto make a push?
The answer probably comes down to the same thing it always does with Toronto: term, money, and where the roster is headed.
Carlson is 36 and coming off the final year of an eight-year, $64 million deal, and any contract now would be short and likely pricey.
The Leafs have spent this offseason talking about getting younger and more mobile in the back end, and on paper, an aging right-shot defenseman whose foot speed has slipped doesn't fit that blueprint.
Carlson makes sense from a win-now perspective but the fact he was looking for a short-term deal with heavy AAV, it would behoove Toronto to keep that money for other pieces.
Carlson had 60 points in 71 games combined with the Washington Capitals and the Ducks and has 785 points in over 1,100 games played.
That's great but when Toronto already employs a lot of older players and have made strides towards getting younger or more mobile, it's a tough gamble.
The case for why the Maple Leafs should have made a push
But this is a league where high risk often does come with high reward, and the Maple Leafs even short term could have benefitted from a player like Carlson, especially with a win-now attitude.
Toronto is looking to get out some money with Morgan Rielly, they just cleared out $3.5-million by trading Brandon Carlo, and there's a lot more money to be moved around.
So why not splurge a bit? They already lose out on Alex Tuch, so instead a focus to overloading the blueline with a litany of stars up front already is a great alternative to what we've seen.
The team may be on that path though as they are reported to be interested in Zach Werenski and could be big players and acquire a franchise defender in his prime.
That could be a reason they stayed away from Carlson, but for now the Stanley Cup champs get themselves yet another powerful piece to their already dominant lineup.
Do you believe John Carlson can still play in the NHL?
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
The Maple Leafs trade Samuel Ersson to the Ottawa Senators