Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka needs to make a move to improve the team, and he has his sights set on the perfect target.
With the Maple Leafs faltering to start the season, there have been calls for general manager John Chayka to make a big blockbuster trade.
This is much easier said than done. You can't just wave a magic wand and get a deal done just because your team needs one. However, Chayka has proven to be a smooth operator when it comes to wheeling and dealing, and if anyone is going to pull a rabbit out of his hat, it would be him.
Pierre LeBrun reveals Chayka's next move
According to Pierre LeBrun on Early Insider Trading, Chayka has been making phone calls to teams around the National Hockey League.
The goal has been simple. Chayka wants a defenseman. He doesn't want a Band-Aid solution. Instead, he wants someone who is going to come in and transform the blue line immediately.
John Chayka...according to what I'm hearing from other teams around the league, continues to make calls about trying to upgrade the blue line in a real way, not in a Band-Aid way, not in a patchwork way, but if the Leafs make the kind of trade they want to make between now and March 1st, it's for a meaningful upgrade on the blue line that is beyond just this year that fits in with this core, helps this team moving forward.
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Presumably, this defenseman would be younger and could contribute offensively. Players like Zach Werenski and Simon Edvinsson have been floated as potential options.
Someone like Quinn Hughes could also be intriguing, although it seems pretty clear that he wants to go to New Jersey to play with his brothers.
Trading for Hughes would come with all sorts of issues, including having to sign an expensive deal that he may not even want.
Regardless, this is good news for Maple Leafs fans. It means that Chayka is, at the very least, trying to keep the wheels on the bus.
Whether or not that big swing for the fences comes before the trade deadline is something that still remains to be seen.
Do you believe John Chayka is making the right moves?
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