Leafs Don’t Do It! 4 Defensemen Way Better Than Ristolainen – Make This Trades Instead!

Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin recently linked the Toronto Maple Leafs as a potential landing spot for Philadelphia Flyers’ defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen. While Ristolainen could be an upgrade over the likes of Conor Timmins or Philippe Myers, there are better-suited blueline options that Leafs’ GM Brad Treliving should be considering.

Here’s a look at four defencemen who should be on the Maple Leafs’ radar ahead of the March 7 trade deadline:

Jake Walman, San Jose Sharks

Walman is exactly what the Maple Leafs need. He’s signed to a reasonable cap hit for this season and next, making $3.4 million AAV, and he’d bring some more offence to the Leafs’ d-core. Walman is playing in all situations for the Sharks this season, seeing close to 23 minutes of ice time per game.

The 28-year-old is from Toronto, read into that what you will, but more importantly, it would fill a hole for the Leafs, allow for them to take Morgan Rielly off the first power-play unit, and push Rielly down the lineup into a more manageable role. Rielly’s struggled this season and it could be because the Leafs are expecting too much out of him.

Back to Walman, the 28-year-old has recorded 27 points in 38 games this season, and a great asset of his is the fact he’s a volume shooter, with 100 shots on goal this season. For comparison’s sake, that’s more shots recorded than Bobby McMann, Rielly, Matthew Knies, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Nick Robertson.

With Walman currently outplaying his contract, the Sharks will run a hard bargain to move the two-way defenceman. The Leafs should be willing to pay up, as Walman’s game is perfectly suited to fill in a massive hole on the Leafs’ blueline, at a very affordable cost.

Jamie Oleksiak, Seattle Kraken

The Kraken enter Friday’s action eight points behind the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, with several teams to leapfrog in the process. They could be open to trading some assets before the trade deadline, with defenceman Jamie Oleksiak a potential trade candidate.

The Toronto, ON native, is a towering presence at 6-foot-7 and would give the Maple Leafs another shut-down blueliner for their bottom two pairs. Oleksiak is a strong penalty killer and isn’t afraid to sacrifice his body, with 102 blocked shots in 49 games this season. He’s also managed to score four times and chip in with 11 points.

Oleksiak is signed through the 2025-26 season at $4.6 million AAV and holds a 16-team no-trade list. ‘Coming home’ to Toronto is likely something that he’d approve. Ideally, the Leafs would get the Kraken to retain a good chunk of Oleksiak’s salary, or have a third team involved to help cut down the cap hit for the rest of this season, and next. It’s just going to be about finding a balance so as not to have to overpay to do so. If the Leafs are going to overpay for anything, it shouldn’t be another defensive defenceman.

Luke Schenn, Nashville Predators

Is another reunion coming for Schenn? It’s hard to say at this point, but if we’re comparing Ristolainen to Schenn, the Maple Leafs should be interested in the Nashville Predators defenceman instead. The Leafs would know what they’re getting with Schenn, and he’s provided more stability than Timmins or Myers.

The veteran stay-at-home blueliner is under contract through the 2025-26 season at $2.75 million AAV and does not have any trade protection on his deal. With the Predators struggling this season, there’s been a sense they’ll be open to re-tooling on the fly ahead of the trade deadline.

Schenn hits everything that moves. He’s landed 175 on the season and would bring some more toughness to the Leafs’ back end. With Ristolainen on the books for $5.1 million AAV for this season, and two more, Schenn’s a much more affordable option, for a very similar playing style. Yes, Ristolainen has more offensive upside, but he has just two goals on the year and hasn’t cracked the 30-point mark since 2019-20.

Admittedly, it would be a little bit comical seeing Schenn once again return to the Maple Leafs, but at the end of the day, if he’s going to help the team win, especially in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Brad Treliving should be contacting the Predators to see what kind of asking price they’re after.

Alexander Romanov, New York Islanders

This one is a bit of a wildcard, but Romanov is an interesting trade candidate for the Maple Leafs to consider. At 25 years old there’s still some untapped potential in his game, and he’s shown throughout his five-year career that he can do a little bit of everything to help the team win.

Romanov is owed $2.5 million this season and is a pending restricted free agent, giving the Leafs some team control should they pay up to acquire him. The former second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens scored seven goals, and 22 points last season, however this year, he hasn’t hit the back of the net and has nine assists in 18 games.

Romanov is a minutes eater, seeing over 21 minutes per game with the Islanders this season, which is a career-high. He’s another penalty-killing option for Toronto and someone they can insert into the top four immediately. He’s the type of defenceman who would help alleviate some minutes from Rielly, allowing for better matchups, which could become a blessing in disguise for several years to come.

The Islanders would ask a pretty penny for Romanov, so of course, like any deal, it’s going to come down to acquisition cost. However, considering the potential upside here, and adding a core defenceman to the group, it should at least be on the Maple Leafs’ radar to connect with Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello to see what his intentions are before March 7.

The Maple Leafs are reportedly in the mix for a middle-six centre, but you can expect Treliving to try and add to his blueline before the deadline. While Larkin may have linked Ristolainen to the Maple Leafs, several options are much better suited for the hockey club.