Revisiting the Rasmus Sandin Trade: Mistake or Stroke of Genius?

Hindsight being 20/20, it's something that could rear it's ugly head in the next coming seasons but will the Maple Leafs regret moving on from Sandin ahead of the trade deadline in 2023, considering the plethora of question marks that are still being talked about to this day about their back-end?

The Maple Leafs traded Sandin to the Washington Capitals for Erik Gustafsson and a 2023 first round pick. While Gustafsson's tenure with the Leafs was extremely short-lived, they did still come out of the trade with Easton Cowan, who was selected with the 28th overall pick that previously belonged to Washington via their trade with Boston for Dmitry Orlov. So that part of the argument washes itself clean because, in theory, you probably take Cowan over Sandin 10 times out of 10 by the looks of things.

However, Sandin was primarily moved due to lack of playing time and the Leafs almost had to choose between him and Timothy Liljegren. The amount of uncertainty that surrounded Sandin upon his departure has now shifted to Liljegren despite the latter earning himself a 2-year contract this summer. Liljegren has yet to take the leap the Leafs desperately need him to take and his proverbial clock is now ticking, with the organization needing productivity as soon as possible.

At the time of the trade, Sandin had registered 20 points in 52 games for the Leafs, while averaging 17:59 TOI. In the 19 games that followed with the Capitals, Sandin tallied 15 points and averaged 5 more minutes of ice time at 22:59. Of course, the sample size was smaller, but he had a decent season in 2023-24 as well with 23 points in 68 games and averaging 21:07 TOI.

Meanwhile, Liljegren matched his career-best for a single season in points with 23 in just 55 games and averaged 19:40 TOI during the regular season, but then saw his ice-time dwindle by almost 2 minutes per game in the post-season at 17:52. His up-and-down season continued but the hope is that a new contract and perhaps a top-4 spot can solidify his confidence heading into 2024-25.

Then you look at what the Maple Leafs added to the fray this summer and it makes you wonder if the money they spent on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson or a Chris Tanev was more efficient than keeping Sandin in the loop.

Washington extended Sandin to a 5-year deal worth $23 million before the 2023-24 season came to a close, whereas comparatively, the Leafs signed Ekman-Larsson to a 3-year deal worth $3.5 million per season and Tanev to a 6-year deal worth $4.5 million per season.

I don't know about you, but the idea if having Chris Tanev back there at $4.5M is certainly preferable over having Sandin patrolling the blueline at $4.6M - at least for the time being. Tanev was a solid addition and he'll do relatively well, at least within the first half of his deal. Ekman-Larsson's game and style of play brings about a lot more uncertainty, and he's probably a lot closer to Sandin than Sandin is to Tanev in terms of overall playing style.

Of course, an important caveat to mention is that Sandin was traded by Kyle Dubas, not Brad Treliving. The route that Dubas took in his final season was an interesting one because he put all his eggs in one basket and it left the club hampered upon his departure. Treliving has done a good job at steadying the ship since his arrival, which includes bolstering a beaten up back-end, but the younger Sandin would have been a far more productive player than some of the more recent defensemen, like Joel Edmundson and Mark Giordano.

While Sandin would have helped the Leafs' back-end, he was a key cog in them being able to acquire top-prospect Easton Cowan. Then sky is the limit for the 2023 first round selection after registering 96 points in just 54 regular season contests as well as 34 points in 18 playoff games en route to the OHL Championships.

If Liljegren can find his way back to being a consistent performer and Ekman-Larsson plays out his contract as a steady number 4 defenseman, the Maple Leafs will never have to worry about the Sandin trade and the implications of what it could have cost with regard to the defense. However, if Liljegren flames out and Ekman-Larsson turns into another John Klingberg, Dubas' costly mistakes will rear their ugly head once more.

Source for Rasmus Sandin's statistics: Hockey-Reference
Rasmus Sandin

Source for Timothy Liljegren's statistics: Hockey-Reference
Timothy Liljegren

Source for Easton Cowan's statistics: Hockey DB
Easton Cowan

Source for Toronto's salary cap situation: PuckPedia
Toronto Maple Leafs