Leafs Trade for Jared McCann

 

Saturday night at 5pm is the deadline for thirty of thirty-one teams to hand in their list of protected players for Wednesdays Expansion Draft and as I have started writing this there is just under an hour before the deadline. However, at 3pm today the league placed a trade and signing freeze untill the NHL Entry Draft. Now with the reports out there that the Leafs have given Zach Hyman permission to meet with teams in hopes of likely finding a deal Kyle Dubas needed to find a replacement for Hyman’s spot on the roster and just before the 3pm hour Toronto and Pittsburgh were able to work out a trade that sees the Penguins receive Forward Filip Hallander who was originally sent to Toronto in the Kaspari Kappenin trade along with a 7^th Round draft pick in 2023 and in exchange the Maple Leafs receive Forward Jared McCann. Dubas and McCann have crossed paths once before because back in 2012 Kyle drafted Jared to the Soo Greyhounds. For me, this trade makes a lot of sense because McCann comes in at 2.9 million dollars for this coming season and he can fill in on the third line or even the second line meaning Alex Kerfoot and his 3.5 million dollars can be exposed for the expansion draft. With bringing McCann in and exposing Kerfoot the Maple Leafs will add $560,000 in cap space and with the team in the cap situation they find themselves in any money saved is obviously a positive.

 

Last year in 43 games the Stratford Ontario native collected 32 points (14 goals 18 assists) and in 6 playoff games he registered one assist. McCann was a decent fit playing with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin but let’s be honest who wouldn’t play well with those guys as teammates, but things will be interesting when fans get to watch Jared McCann play on Toronto’s third line but likely we will see him make appearances playing with the big four forwards. I apologize but I really don’t have much more to add about this trade because I didn't watch many Penguins games last season. It is being reported that tomorrow morning at 10am teams protected lists will be made public so I will add that news to this article tomorrow.