Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas added some more depth to his squad, but perhaps more importantly, got some terms in a non-rental deal.
SEATTLE — The Toronto Maple Leafs had added to their depth and their short-term future in yet another trade.
This time, The Maple Leafs swung a deal to land defenseman Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty from the Chicago Blackhawks, the team announced on Monday.
In addition to acquiring conditional fifth-round selections in the 2024 and 2025 NHL Drafts, the Leafs were able to convince the Blackhawks to retain 50 percent of McCabe's salary cap hit. He is signed through the 2024-25 season with an average annual value of $4 million.
The haul wasn't cheap, as the Maple Leafs did have to surrender a top-10 lottery-protected first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, a second-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft, as well as forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev.
What the Leafs are getting in Blackhawks players
In McCabe, the Leafs get their depth defenseman. A 6'1" 204-pounder shutdown physical player.
He was most recently skating with Seth Jones on Chicago's top defense pair averaging over 19 minutes a night. A left-handed shot, he should be able to help balance out Toronto's D-core that can allow TJ Brodie (a left-handed shot) to skate on the right side of Morgan Rielly for an optimal look. At times, Brodie has had to move over to the left away from Rielly and that hasn't yielded good results with Rielly's other defense partners.
The 29-year-old will become a part of the team's short-term future. He has two goals and 18 assists in 55 regular-season games with Chicago this season.
The Leafs had a front-row seat of what Sam Lafferty can do when the Blackhawks were in town a couple of weeks ago.
The 27-year-old can play at center or left wing, and should provide some other unique looks to Toronto's bottom six.
What the Leafs are losing
In addition to the draft capital, the Leafs are parting with forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev.
Anderson was put on waivers last week as the Leafs worked on getting some cap flexibility. Now that he has cleared, Anderson could stay in the minors, but would likely be called up by the Blackhawks as they need players. Anderson has two goals and one assists in 14 games with the Maple Leafs this season.
Gogolev never factored into Toronto's long-term plans. As players were called up routinely this season, Gogolev never got a look. He has spent most of this season with the ECHL Newfoundland Growlers where he has 21 goals and 27 assists in 33 games
Leafs cap situation following the move
Heading into Monday, the Leafs had approximately $2 million to work with (under the assumption of Matt Murray being activated from LTI and limiting their roster to 21 players). After the trade, the Leafs have $2.85 in space with a 23-man roster, but that includes Murray still on LTI.
According to Puckpedia.com, in order to activate Murray, they need to clear $1.8 million in cap space, which they could do by sending down three players. The tricky situation here will be deciding which players they send down. Everyone on the active roster outside of Joseph Woll requires waivers before being sent down. That includes Conor Timmins, who recently signed a two-year, $2.2 million extension. The Leafs were able to get Timmins in a trade for a lower-range prospect from the Arizona Coyotes mainly because the club felt they were going to lose the defenseman on waivers, anyway. The Leafs have carried Timmins on their roster since acquiring him from Arizona in November.