Leafs pulling perfect pitch to land star defenseman!

We believe we have learned something quite valuable this offseason already: never underestimate the talent and willpower of newly appointed Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas. The guy, in his first few weeks on the job, managed to pull what every other team was trying to accomplish: he landed the most coveted free agent of the summer John Tavares to a seven-year contract and heads into the upcoming season as a strong contender. 

It now seems like Dubas might not be done impressing the Toronto fan base as he could be looking to pull another surprising move this season. According to NHL insider Pierre LeBrun, who was on the air of Toronto’s TSN 1050 on Thursday, the Leafs might be putting together the perfect pitch to land a star defenseman this year. 

It is believed that Dubas is after Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk, who could finally answer the Maple Leafs’ void on the back end for a much longer playoff push this time around. 

“I was told this summer that to some degree Carolina and Toronto did talk about him, but it didn’t go anywhere. And that might just be that Kyle Dubas was calling around the league to start getting a foundation for what’s out there over the next 12 months, who knows,” he said, according to Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey. 

“The question is what would Carolina want, and there’s a reason he hasn’t moved yet. Even though Carolina is really deep on defense and they’ve got more coming, they haven’t moved him I think because he’s at a premium. If you’re coming to get Justin Faulk, you’re going to have to probably pay a huge price. And maybe that’s not just something the Leafs are ready to do at this point. 

“But to your point, if there’s going to be a tangible addition to this team, given the cap room they have - at least for one more year - how could it not be on the back end. I mean honestly, it’s just screaming out at you.” 

It does seem like Faulk, a right-handed shot under contract through 2019-20 with an affordable $4.83-million annual salary-cap hit, could be a perfect fit for the Leafs, who are in need of a top-four, right-shot blue liner. 

Faulk has a modified no-trade clause as part of his current deal, through which he can submit a 15-team trade list. We do not know if Toronto appears on the said list, however, it seems like Dubas always finds a way to convince player to come on over.