Zachary Werenski would accept a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pierre LeBrun reported Sunday. One Canadian team the Team USA gold medalist would consider.
That's a massive development for a franchise that allowed 299 goals this season, dead last in the Atlantic Division, and finished 32-36-14, twenty-eighth overall.
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Toronto desperately needs blue-line help. Morgan Rielly posted a -18 rating this season. The defense has been the team's most visible problem for two straight years.
Werenski is the answer a lot of Leafs fans have been dreaming about. He posted 22 goals and 81 points in 75 games for Columbus this season. A defenseman who scores at that rate is genuinely rare.
But his cap hit is $9,583,333. For a team that already has Auston Matthews at $13,250,000 and William Nylander at $11,500,000, absorbing that number requires serious cap surgery.
GM Chris Chayka already said this week the team is looking at depth first, then bigger swings. Werenski is unquestionably a big swing. A $9.6 million defenseman on a team that went 2-7-1 in its final ten games is not a depth move.
Leafs cap crunch is the real obstacle in any Werenski deal
Columbus finished 40-30-12 this season, eighteenth overall. GM Don Waddell is not in a full sell mode. He'd need real assets coming back, picks and prospects, not just salary relief.
The Leafs don't have an obvious piece to move that solves the math cleanly. Rielly at $7,500,000 is the most logical out, but his -18 rating this season doesn't make him an easy sell to a contender.
Werenski is 28 years old and entering the prime of his career. For Toronto, the fit on paper is hard to argue with. Getting the deal done is the part nobody has figured out yet.
Should the Leafs make a push to acquire Zachary Werenski this offseason?
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