Maple Leafs linked to unexpected defenseman in stunning development
Toronto's defence corps just bled out a -46 goal differential, and Saturday morning Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff dropped the names the Maple Leafs need to be calling about.
The Leafs finished 28th overall at 32-36-14. They closed the season on a seven-game losing streak. That's the backdrop for every trade conversation now.
Larkin's column splits the targets into three buckets: win-now veterans, long-term swings, and the home run. The home run, in his words, is Brandt Clarke of the Los Angeles Kings.
Toronto already saw Clarke up close. They lost both meetings to Los Angeles this season, dropping a 4-3 overtime decision at home in November and a 7-6 OT loss on the road in early April.
The win-now bucket leads with Dougie Hamilton and his $9 million cap hit in New Jersey. The Devils swept the regular-season series 2-1, with Toronto's lone win a 4-0 shutout at Scotiabank Arena.
Adam Fox sits in that same tier. His $9.5 million number on Broadway is essentially a non-starter for a team carrying Auston Matthews at $13.25 million and William Nylander at $11.5 million. But Larkin floats it anyway.
Why the Jamie Drysdale pitch hits different in Toronto
Drysdale is the long-term swing Larkin pushes hardest, and the logic isn't subtle. Toronto native. Twenty-four years old. A blue line that just gave up 299 goals needs a young right-shot puck-mover.
The Leafs took the season series from Philadelphia 2-1, including a 5-2 road win in early November. Whether the Flyers actually move him with Oliver Bonk arriving is the real question.
Other young names Larkin mentions: Simon Nemec, Pavel Mintyukov, Mason Lohrei. None of those three are core-altering pieces. They're projects with upside, and Toronto's window doesn't really tolerate projects right now.
That's the tension here. Morgan Rielly went minus-18 this year on a $7.5 million cap hit. Simon Benoit finished at minus-22. Adding a third long-runway prospect to that group doesn't fix what just happened.
So pick a lane. Either Toronto goes get Clarke and pays the freight in roster pain, or it accepts another transitional year and tries to convince Matthews and Nylander that patience is still a virtue at $24.75 million combined.
Brad Treliving doesn't have a fourth option. Not after a -46 differential. Not after losing the last seven. The blue line was the wound all year, and Larkin's column just laid out the bandages within reach.
Whether ownership greenlights a core-altering swing for a 23-year-old right-shot defenceman is the real story under the story. Everything else is window shopping.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 29, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexander Nikishin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||