Leafs rumoured to be considering moving a defenseman in a trade

On Wednesday, a report surfaced from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman that he had heard rumblings of the Leafs making one of their defensemen who plays on the right side available.

Just 24 hours later, The Athletic's James Mirtle has also reported that sources have told him that the Leafs are indeed fielding calls on a defenseman with 7 NHL defenseman currently on the roster.

Of the Leafs' right side defenders, I think we can likely assume that T.J. Brodie is staying put. Timothy Liljegren, due to his stellar play early on this season and what looks like a reasonably high ceiling, is a pretty good bet to stay put as well.

That essentially leaves Travis Dermott and Justin Holl - each of whom has had their fair share of struggles over the past couple of seasons. Dermott, who took a hard shot off the foot during Tuesday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights, has found himself in a favorable position on the Leafs' top pair with Morgan Rielly. Meanwhile, Holl has been scratched in back-to-back wins, looking like he has fallen out of favor with the Leafs' coaching staff.

At this point, if a defender is moved, it really depends how the Leafs wish to proceed. With Dermott showing well on the top pairing with Rielly over the past two games, his trade value is likely much higher than Holl's.

If the Leafs decided to move Holl, they would be able to keep the current iteration of their top six intact and clear $2M in cap space.

My personal opinion is that if the Leafs hope to be playoff contenders, they're going to need good depth at every position, and teams often need 7 or even 8 NHL-caliber defensemen to go on a deep run.

That said, you do have to give something up to get something, and both Holl and Dermott would provide plenty of value should a team come calling and extend an offer to GM Kyle Dubas that is simply too good to pass up.

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