Report: Leafs to add Radko Gudas

The Toronto Maple Leafs' season has been over for just a week now, but the post-mortem is officially over and Leafs Nation is now turning its sights to the future. Specifically, Leafs fans are beginning to wonder what sort of moves general manager Kyle Dubas has up his sleeves this offseason. Dubas, of course, has been extremely active the past two offseasons, first acquiring superstar free agent John Tavares in 2018 and then trading fan favourite Nazem Kadri last offseason. One thing's for sure, Dubas isn't afraid to make the big moves.

But Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman seems to feel that Dubas will simply tinker with this roster this time around. Blockbuster trades concerning players like Mitch Marner and William Nylander are likely off the table, but Friedman has identified at least one player that he expects the Leafs to add for 2020-21: Radko Gudas. 

Uh... you mean the guy who is currently still in the playoffs and under contract by the Washington Capitals? Bingo.

In his lastest 31 Thoughts podcast for Sportsnet, Friedman goes so far as to call Gudas a "future Leaf."

Check out some of these quotes from Friedman, taken from the podcast:

I do think some non-stereotypical Dubas moves are coming. I put Gudas’ name there. I have one guy in the league who is already calling him, “future Leaf Radko Gudas.” The guy is in the playoffs for the Capitals.

This is something I heard in the aftermath of Game 5: He went out and got Kyle Clifford, and someone told me he was contemplating more than that. I don’t know who, but I am wondering if he adds some bite on his blue line.

He has players coming in next year — Barabanov from the KHL up front and Lehtonen on defense from the KHL — but I think he needs more bite. I think he will try to add it.

When someone says to me that Dubas was looking at not just Clifford, it says to me that he is thinking about it. Two names I put in the blog are Borowiecki and Radko Gudas. That’s just me throwing stuff against the wall, right?

There's no doubt that Gudas would provide the Leafs with some extra bite, maybe similar to when they had veteran Roman Polak patrolling the blue line. There's also no doubt that the Leafs missed Jake Muzzin's steady presence and physicality when he went down with injury in their Qualifying Series loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. With a healthy Muzzin and Gudas on the blueline, the Leafs could boast the toughest defense corps in the Eastern Conference. Thoughts, Leafs fans?