Leafs Lose Out on Ideal Trade Target After Bidding War Ends in Disappointment
Photo credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
If the Maple Leafs wanted to go after Dallas Stars star forward Jason Robertson this offseason, they're out of luck as the team would rather trade some other players.
There's been a lot of smoke recently regarding the potential of Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson being traded out of town, as the team tries to navigate their cap situation while needing to re-sign some top names as well.
Linked to several teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Robertson might be the next casualty of a cap crunch.
Jason Robertson not going to be a trade candidate: David Pagnotta
But according to NHL Insider David Pagnotta, the Stars are more keen to trade some other contracts instead, while trying to figure out how to best pay Robertson:
Dallas' preference is to try to move Mason Marchment, Ilya Lyubushkin or Matt Dumba, not Jason Robertson - David Pagnotta
It's not too surprising given that Robertson is a huge part of the Stars' success as of late, and he's poised to be one of the best forwards in the entire league.
Robertson, 25, has been a lightning bolt for the Stars over the past six seasons, but really breaking out in 2021-22. He's scored 151 goals and 348 points over his last four seasons while exhibiting elite two-way play.
He's a restricted free agent, and is expected to get a hefty pay raise, so for Dallas wanting to dump a combined $11.5M in cap space in Dumba, Marchment and Lyubushkin makes perfect sense; especially since Robertson outweighs them all by a significant margin.
Toronto might be able to acquire Mason Marchment; might cost Nick Robertson
The team isn't out completely though, and while adding a player the ilk of Robertson is much more exciting, they can still look and acquire Marchment if the team really wants someone from the Lone Star state.
He's a reasonably priced top-nine forward who can give you a reliable scoring presence, a lot of physicality, size, and he's still relatively young at only 29.
A former Maple Leaf himself, Marchment never really got a chance to play before being traded away for Denis Malgin; a horrifically bad trade in hindsight.
But since playing with Dallas, he's scored 56 goals and has 131 points in 211 games. He's no Mitch Marner, but for a team desperate for reliable secondary scoring, he makes sense.
Plus, it won't the team nearly as much as it would to acquire Robertson and it might be a bit of a great bargaining chip that Toronto can dangle Nick Robertson's RFA rights to a team that holds his brother.
Robertson (Nick) is looking for a change of scenery and while he holds a lot of potential, doesn't necessarily fit the DNA change the Maple Leafs want to implement going forward.
So packaging Robertson and a low-end pick should be enough to satiate GM Jim Nill, who has shown he make a lot out of a little, and could find Robertson an interesting enough (and cheaper) player than Marchment, and bet on him finding his spark alongside Jason.
Whichever way Toronto wants to go about business however, they need to start being proactive before they start seeing more and more potential targets slip away.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 13 | 470 ANSWERS Leafs Lose Out on Ideal Trade Target After Bidding War Ends in Disappointment Who should the Maple Leafs target instead of Jason Robertson? | ||
| Brad Marchand | 223 | 47.4 % |
| Mason Marchment | 113 | 24 % |
| Brock Boeser | 53 | 11.3 % |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 81 | 17.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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