They say no news is good news, but when you either looking to write about hockey or read about hockey in the summer, a little news would help. The Maple Leafs gave us a microdose of that this week with the hiring of Mark Leach, so we’ll start there in this week’s Leaflets.
Reasons to be optimistic about Mark Leach
Mark Leach being part of the Dallas Stars amateur scouting team looks like a huge plus. Recent success stories like Wyatt Johnson, Thomas Harley and Logan Stankoven are signs of strength for a team that generally has been drafting at the back of the first round. That’s not a bad way to replace Wes Clark.
During Mark Leach’s time with the Stars most of their success has been at the top of the draft. The past decade hasn’t produced any late round success stories, and you’d have to go back to finding Nick Paul in 2014, Esa Lindell in 2013, and John Klingberg in 2010 to find Stars players found deep in the draft. Leach joined the Stars in 2013-14.
Before that, Leach was part of the Red Wings staff from 1997-2013 and they did make finding late round gems a regular part of their draft track record. Interestingly, Mark Leach was one of the first people to come to Dallas when Jim Nill took over, so there is an appreciation for his work there.
While Mark Leach has been listed as an amateur scout and hasn’t held a formal leadership position with either the Stars or the Wings, most information related to Mark Leach identifies him as a key individual in the decision-making process.
With a track record that not only includes Johnson, Harley, and Stankoven but also Hintz and Robertson, there is good reason to believe Leach can help maximize the Leafs picks when they have them.
What if… Hakanpaa isn’t a Leaf
As we approach the three week mark without hearing one way or the other about whether Hakanpaa is a Leaf, it’s probably time to consider what the Leafs do without him. In fact, Puckpedia has already updated their site with Hakanpaa left off the Leafs roster and now showing $2.45M of cap space with Nick Robertson and Connor Dewar left to sign.
A pretty obvious Plan B to signing Hakanpaa is to sign Robertson and Dewar and call it a day. The dollars probably work out fine that way. And while Hakanpaa was potentially going to allow for the Leafs to get more creative with what they can do on the blueline, running back McCabe and Benoit as a unit while putting Ekman-Larsson with Liljegren still feels like an upgrade over last season.
The issue is depth and Hakanpaa was a pretty good insurance policy (if he could maintain his health). The Leafs are going to use a lot more than just their top six defencemen, and even their top seven. Conor Timmins as the 7th defenceman is already a sign that there is a need for additional depth and Toronto won’t want to jump to Dakota Mermis or Phillipe Myers too quickly, and the NHL readiness of Cade Webber and Topi Niemela will need to be established in training camp.
The Plan B might come in the form of Nick Robertson wanting out. If there is a path to trading for a Hakanpaa replacement option that might be better than relying on what is presently left in free agency, although Calen Addison and Oliver Kylington are intriguing options, and bringing back Travis Dermott specifically for using him in the depth role he’s suited could work as well. Still none of those options offer the toughness of Hakanpaa and that seems to be the priority here. I’m certainly not advocating for the Leafs flipping a young potential 20 goal scorer for a bottom pairing defenceman, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Leafs consider it.
The other piece that is less straight forward is that without Hakanpaa, with Robertson wanting a trade, and the Leafs still in need of more help up the middle, does Toronto look for a centre option?
Morgan Frost remains an option. Free agency, not so much. It’s hard to imagine there will be an abundance of options on the trade market either but with teams presently sitting over the salary cap and plenty of others still likely scrambling like the Leafs are to see what else can be done, there’s some hope that something could come up out of nowhere.
While Hakanpaa was an interesting option for the Leafs and you can’t fault Brad Treliving for seeing if this could work. It just would be nice to know if Hakanpaa is completely off the table.
