The Toronto Maple Leafs need to give themselves some cap relief and could be trading defenseman Conor Timmins as he's found himself without a roster spot anymore.
The Maple Leafs are currently in a cap crunch, only having just over $1M in wiggle room to play with. They still have a couple of contracts to figure out, including PTO's Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz; Pacioretty's contract is expected to become a standard one and the team would need at least an extra $1M to get him signed.
They also added numerous defensemen this offseason such as Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jani Hakanpaa while also having their future defenders in Topi Niemala, Noah Chadwick and Ben Danford waiting in the wings.
The current Maple Leafs Maple Leafs lineup consists of the following:
Rielly -- Tanev
Ekman-Larsson -- Hakanpaa
Benoit -- McCabe
Liljegren
Timmins
This iteration of the Maple Leafs defense is going to be pretty tough to pry a spot away from. You have your Top-4 solidifed, and the bottom pairing, while could be a revolving door of sorts is still occupied by more experienced players. Jake McCabe is a second line defender who is pushed down to the third only due to the presence of the names above him. He's a Top-4 defender on most other teams and the fact that even he could find himself so low on the depth chart spells disaster for one defender on that list.
On the outside looking in is Conor Timmins, a 6-year veteran who is still looking to find a place in the NHL. For his career he's only played 91 games and while he's been affected by injuries for a portion of that time; he has been fairly average with his time on the ice. He is far and away removed from his scoring output with the Soo Greyhounds, where he scored 115 points in 163 games; compared to his 91 NHL games and 31 points. Could he get more points if he played more? Possibly, but with how crucial it is for Toronto to put the best players out possible, and ones with leadership and heavy NHL experience, Timmins is out of luck in that aspect.
He currently costs the Maple Leafs $1.1M and while it's not a ton of money, that's certainly enough to put pen to paper on Pacioretty or Lorentz, and with him being an RFA at season's end, it also removes the burden of dealing with whether to keep him or losing him to an offer sheet.
Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017, he was traded to Arizona for goaltender Darcy Kuemper; then Toronto acquired Timmins for Curtis Douglas, a fringe NHL prospect. He never really got his footing in Toronto and he was often pushed aside before given a chance to shine, much like this season. He's the type of player Craig Berube likes at 6'2, 206 pounds but his lack of experience and potential to be exposed by opponents would hinder more than help.
Timmins has never been one name that explodes off the paper but he is at least serviceable for the Maple Leafs; however it could just be a factor of too little, too late for the Saint Catharines, Ontario native.
If he could find more consistent playing time and perhaps find the offensive spark he had in Sault Ste. Marie; he could be a huge underrated asset for a team. All he needs to be given is a chance, but that's not here in Toronto.
If the Maple Leafs want to shed some cap room for the players they believe will be the key pieces for a deep playoff run, they could start with Conor Timmins; a story of a player who never got a chance to be, but still can in a different jersey.
