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Did the Maple Leafs Make a Mistake Trading Sam Lafferty?
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Sam Lafferty, but the deal might have been a mistake considering they could use him on their fourth line now.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward Sam Lafferty to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-round pick in 2024 back on Oct. 8, 2023. It was a trade to clear cap space and while it made sense on paper, the Leafs might be looking back and wondering if it was the right decision.
Lafferty has been a solid bottom-six forward for the Canucks. This season he already has 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points, plus 15 in 31 games. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs have had a few different looks for their last line. Early in free agency, the Maple Leafs signed Ryan Reaves to a three-year deal with an AAV of $1.35 million. In 21 games this season, he has 1 goal and is minus 11. Bobby McMann is another player in and out of the lineup on that last line. So far, he has 1 goal, 3 assists, and four points in six games. Lafferty was the best option and he could have been the missing piece.
Would Lafferty’s Play Fit on the Maple Leafs?
Lafferty’s style of play would have fit very well on the Leafs’ last line. We would have played alongside Noah Gregor and David Kampf. The three of them are fast skaters who grind out every shift and this could have been the forechecking line for the Maple Leafs. That line also could have been relied upon to play in most defensive situations. Instead, the Leafs’ last line struggled earlier on, part of that because of a lack of chemistry. However, it was also due to Reaves and his bad puck luck.
So too, in today’s NHL it is important to have team toughness. That does not mean a team should necessarily have one solidified “tough guy” like Reaves. One could argue his role is still needed in the game though and when someone takes a run at a star, he goes out and does his job. Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs aren’t that type of team. They would have benefited from Lafferty more than they do from Reaves.
Lafferty’s AAV is $1.15 million for the remainder of the season. Although it is only a $20,000 difference, the production is the difference. Regardless, the Maple Leafs did make the move and there’s no turning back. However, now that it is in the past, we can look back and determine if it was a mistake or not. Based on his contract, point production and style of play, it is pretty clear that it was a mistake on the Maple Leafs’ part.
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Kerry Dunn
December 17, 2023 at 4:48 pm
Yawn.
Using “hindsight” to gauge whether or not a team should have done (or not done) something is just LAME.
IF teams could see into the future of course they would likely do things differently. IF teams could go back in time and change something, of course they would have different outcomes.
It’s like all those stupid “re-drafts” where “experts” look at how well (or poorly) players from a draft year have done and say “well, knowing what we know NOW, team “x” should have drafted player “L” instead of player “H” – (2 or 3 or 5 years ago).
But the REALITY is, at THAT time it made more sense for the team to do (whatever it did).
History is full of “well, they should have done things differently” references. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to see how things turned out NOW and then criticize a team for a decision they made months (or years) ago ?
And now you know why those “experts” write articles for sites like this instead of working for an actual team.
Because most (all ?) of them aren’t smart enough to get a job with an NHL team making actual decisions like who to draft or who to trade.
So they write criticisms about what those teams did or shouldn’t have done – long after the fact when they have the safety of already knowing the outcome to justify their statements.
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Afp1961
December 17, 2023 at 8:55 pm
Signing graves was a mistake and then trading Lafferty was doubling down on a silly signing. Many of us said it then. So no hindsight here…..
gcmgome
December 18, 2023 at 7:24 am
Bobby McMann is not the dramatic downgrade from Sam Lafferty that you are implying he is. The biggest differences between the two players, aside from being left and right shooters, are experience and salary. The $325K difference in AAV between Lafferty and the league minimum was desperately needed at the time to get to a cap compliant roster.
Something had to give to deal with cap issues and losing Lafferty was the lesser evil of the few choices to get there. No one knew at the time that John Klingberg was headed for LTIR and would provide enough cap relief to make the Lafferty trade redundant.
That’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes when tough decisions have to be made.
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