According to Pierre LeBrun on Sunday, Zachary Werenski would be open to a transfer to the Toronto Maple Leafs. One Canadian team would be on the gold medalist of Team USA’s list.
Twenty-eighth overall, with a record of 32-36-14, and dead last in the Atlantic Division with 299 goals allowed this season, this is a huge step forward for a team.
The blue line is sorely lacking in Toronto. Morgan Rielly had a -18 rating this year. For two years in a row, the team’s most noticeable flaw has been its defense.
Werenski is the response that many Leafs supporters have been hoping for. He scored 22 goals and 81 points in 75 games for Columbus this season. It is genuinely rare for a defenseman to score at such a pace.
However, he has a cap hit of $9,583,333. For a team that already has Auston Matthews at $13,250,000 and William Nylander at $11,500,000, absorbing that number requires serious cap surgery.
GM Chris Chayka already said this week the team is looking at depth first, then bigger swings. Werenski is unquestionably a big swing. A $9.6 million defenseman on a team that went 2-7-1 in its final ten games is not a depth move.
Leafs cap crunch is the real obstacle in any Werenski deal
Columbus finished 40-30-12 this season, eighteenth overall. GM Don Waddell is not in a full sell mode. He’d need real assets coming back, picks and prospects, not just salary relief.
The Leafs don’t have an obvious piece to move that solves the math cleanly. Rielly at $7,500,000 is the most logical out, but his -18 rating this season doesn’t make him an easy sell to a contender.
Werenski is 28 years old and entering the prime of his career. For Toronto, the fit on paper is hard to argue with. Getting the deal done is the part nobody has figured out yet.
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