The Maple Leafs have an opening to land Adam Henrique as Edmonton turns to Mike Babcock

The Toronto Maple Leafs could land Adam Henrique and they have a potential Mike Babcock hire to thanks for opening the door for a new 3C.

Toronto is in need of a 3C to replace Nic Roy who was traded, and to shore up the bottom -six especially with Max Domi expected to be out long-term. Adam Henrique is reportedly headed to free agency, and it comes amid major concerns with Mike Babcock coming in to coach the Edmonton Oilers.

If the Oilers are looking to hire Babcock (which is likely after his investigation) then they are going to get a lot of flak and have their fair share of critics but if Babcock is indeed the coach that puts them over the top then it'll al be worth it. Reportedly, players are on board with the hire and there's no denying Babcock's success despite his rather abrasive nature.

Agents are feeling that Babcock's hiring will push players away from the Oilers

However not everyone seems to be excited, and there has been one anonymous player agent who belives that if Babcock comes in, then Edmonton may have to live with the fact they won't have many excited potential players this summer and could find themselves unable to sign the pieces they want:

The opportunity to play with McDavid or Draisaitl is diminished with the potential to be coached by Babcock. It is a valid concern voiced to me by a few of my clients.

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Who wouldn't want to play with two of the greatest players in the world? You'd be insane not to, but at the cost of potentially being bullied, berated, or otherwise treated unfairly it may not be worth it.

It's also an interesting back and forth given that other agents are fully on board with the hire, as agent Dan Milstein

I know Mike Babcock well from his days in Detroit and his days in Toronto. He has had many of my clients, from Pavel Datsyuk to Nikita Zaitsev to Ilya Mikheyev and others.

I personally think that Mike is one of the greatest coaches in this game. I have never had any issues, and none of my clients have had any issues (with Babcock). My clients want to be pushed, they want to be coached, and my clients would love to win more than anything.

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To each their own, as obviously for players the end goal means winning the Stanley Cup however it may come down to what role these players have. Former players under Babcock admitted that the top 1% of players are safe from criticism whereas it's the role players, the staff, and the smaller names who get pushed around.

Adam Henrique is a role player who isn't coming back to Edmonton and Toronto needs to act quick

We at least know one player who won't be back, as David Pagnotta reported that veteran forward Adam Henrique is not going to be returning to Edmonton and he's headed to free agency:

Adam Henrique is not expected back in Edmonton.

If that's the case, then Toronto has the perfect opportunity to get their 3C on the cheap and add a great and reliable two-way centre for the bottom-six who has great offensive capabilities despite struggling in Edmonton.

Prior to his time with the Oilers, Henrique averaged 40 points over his previous 13 seasons as well as adding above average face-off metrics, scoring ability on both the power-play and PK (17 short-handed goals in his career) and has a knack for scoring game-winners.

He's the exact player to replace Max Domi down the middle and give Toronto a much better overall presence on the ice. He's not going to be asking for prime minutes, and he'll give a lot of the stars a break from playing those heavy defensive minutes.

Henrique made only $3-million AAV on his last deal and he's 36 years old. That's a bit older than you'd hope, however if the team can bring him in on a similar deal for a couple of seasons then it's a low-cost, high-reward signing.

But he won't be available for long though with how quickly the Maple Leafs have been working to make changes, we could see Henrique put pen to paper on July 1 as soon as free agency opens up.

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