Leafs reportedly may follow Bruins' recent roster strategy to recoup significant assets
Winning just 3 of their last 10 games, the Leafs may use the Bruins' strategy from last season in order to recoup significant assets at the trade deadline, according to TSN's Chris Johnston.
Two seasons ago, the Boston Bruins eliminated the Leafs in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, they struggled out of the gate and ultimately decided they would go through a re-tooling.
Leafs help Bruins re-tool with Fraser Minten
Hoping to make a deep post-season run, the Leafs thought they had finally filled a long-standing hole on the blueline when they acquired Brandon Carlo from Boston at the trade deadline.
In doing so, they shipped out Fraser Minten and a top-five protected first-round pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
Unfortunately, Brad Treliving appears to have lost that trade, with Carlo struggling before his injury and Minten being cast in a prominent role on a younger, hungrier Bruins squad.
There's also a chance that the Leafs' draft pick that is owned by the Bruins ends up being in that 6-10 range, which would be disastrous for the Maple Leafs.
Leafs to follow in Boston's footsteps?
On Monday's edition of 'The Chris Johnston Show', Johnston wondered if the Leafs would consider following the strategy their Atlantic Division rival used last season if they can't turn things around in short order.
"Boston was in the same spot a year ago... everything that could go wrong went wrong early in the year. Would the Leafs copy what the Bruins did? We're not talking about the top guys, that's not even on the table, but basically the middle meat of the roster..."
Johnston was quick to dismiss the notion of selling the likes of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Matthew Knies, but noted that even Morgan Rielly could be on the table.
Rielly's name has surfaced in trade rumours dating back to the off-season, but he has had no intention of waiving his no-movement clause to leave Toronto.
It doesn't leave much for the Leafs to sell, but they could recoup a significant number of assets if they were to deal the likes of the aforementioned Carlo, Max Domi, Scott Laughton, Nicholas Robertson, Bobby McMann and others.
With all of the injuries and inability to string together wins, it makes too much sense to begin re-tooling, while giving some younger players an opportunity and maybe squeaking into a wild-card spot.
Beginning a five-game road trip on Wednesday, if they don't return home with at winning record, it could make the decision to sell very easy for Brad Treliving.
Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily
| POLL |
NOVEMBRE 26 | 1199 ANSWERS Leafs reportedly may follow Bruins' recent roster strategy to recoup significant assets Do you think the Leafs should follow the Bruins' lead and re-tool on the fly? |
| Absolutely | 1065 | 88.8 % |
| No, this team will be a playoff team | 134 | 11.2 % |
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