Maple Leafs trade for Dakota Joshua! Whats next?

Maple Leafs trade for Dakota Joshua! Whats next?

[Applause] What’s going on guys? Andrew Pilik Hockey here back again with another video and another day, another chance to talk about the Maple Leafs and this time some pretty decently sized news because this impacts a few different things and that’s the Maple Leafs making a trade with the Vancouver Conucks. So, if you guys are new here, make sure to like this video and subscribe. Join the squad. I’d love to have you guys here. Thank you for all the support on the last video. Now, let’s get into it. So, the Toronto Maple Leafs complete a trade with the Vancouver Conucks. Like I said, to Toronto will be Dakota Joshua. And going the other way as a fourthround pick in 2028 to the Vancouver Conucks. Now, there’s a lot to unpack here. Okay, so basically the first thing that I want to talk about is the fact that people are kind of upset with the Maple Leafs going out there and grabbing another guy who is probably a bottom six type of forward. Um I at first was kind of like I like the deal but I’m not sure I’m fully committed to it. But I read a really good tweet and Nanderthuse this this guy’s always on my on my videos. cuz I’m always quoting him or it could be her. Not too sure who’s uh who’s running this account. But Joshua for a fourth is just some insane work from Trill Living. He really struggled this past season, Joshua, but was coming off an off season where he was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery to fix it. He’s 6’3 and in 2023 2024 he scored 18 goals and finished seventh amongst forward and hits. Now that’s really promising. First of all, another big body. And I’m familiar with Dakota Joshua. I think a lot of hockey fans in general are familiar with Dakota Joshua. I think some people might even remember him uh from his fight with Mark Gordano from a few years ago. Uh seems like forever ago now, but again, he’s a big body. And again, what was said in this tweet makes a ton of sense. He was He’s coming off an off season where he he had surgery, cancer, like literally like, can you imagine what he was going through? He scored 18 goals. Now, I’m going to be completely honest with you guys. I don’t expect him to ever touch 18 goals again. And that’s not being nasty. I just I don’t see it. And I think that he can be a 15 goal guy. And I know some people are like, “Well, that’s not that far off.” But I think some people are thinking he’s going to eclipse 18. And if he does, hey, I’m all for it. But we’re going to get more into his numbers, and I’ll kind of show you why I think that there could be um a little bit more of a, you know, 10 to 15 goal type of, you know, scoring line that I would figure he would fall into. Now, if you watched a lot of his highlights and if you’ve watched him play, him and Connor Garland had some pretty good chemistry. And there’s some things I need to bring up when it comes to him and where he would fit in the lineup and why his scoring touch might go down a little bit. Now, if you look at his career, he’s had some uh some good production. I mean, 11 goals in 79 games played in his first real chance to play with the Vancouver Conucks. He also, by the way, is a former Maple Leaf draft pick. In 2014, he was drafted in the fifth round by the Maple Leafs. So, something really cool there. He’s basically coming back home now again in St. Louis. He never really got an opportunity. Goes to Vancouver, shows that he can put up decent numbers in decent minutes, and then the next season has his career year, 14 minutes of ice time. And this is where the first little thing that I want to talk about here is, and again, you can see the drop off. You know, 57 games played, 14 uh points, but seven goals and seven assists. The scoring touch is what the Leafs need right now. So, if he can put up 10 goals, 10 to 15 goals again, that’ll be fine. But back to the 14 minutes, I can’t really see a world where he’s going to be getting 14 minutes plus unless they try him on the second line, which I don’t imagine they’re going to try because I think he is a power forward, but from watching him play, and maybe I’m completely wrong, and seeing highlights, he’s a good finisher. Actually, he can finish plays and he can drive a play, but I don’t think he’s the guy setting up the goal. I think he’s the guy that’s finishing it. He’s rough out front of the net. He can play physical, as you know. He’s throw thrown a ton of hits. He’s a big body. He can fight. He’ll He’s no stranger to dropping the gloves, but where he fits on this team is going to be a little bit questionable. and where I I think he’s going to play probably drops off his scoring a little bit and we’ll get to that in just a second. But we need to talk about his cap hit because he’s making $3.25 million and he’s only in the second year of that deal which again with the cap going up and I’ve seen a million people saying that, oh, it’s so expensive. If he scores 15 goals this year, there’s probably guys in the NHL that are scoring less than that that will be making this much money. When the cap goes up, the player contracts go up, the percentages go up. We’ve seen it this off season. So many players that are probably not even worth half their contract are getting paid big bucks because that’s just what the the new the new uh line of thinking is when it comes to contracts. This is what people are getting paid. And again, I’m all for people getting paid. The players getting paid. That’s fantastic. But I kind of wanted to throw that out there. Now, everybody’s biggest question, how does he fit in? Where does the money look like? I thought the Leafs were going after a top six forward. We can look into literally all of those things right now. So, this is this is what I’m thinking right now. Okay. I have him kind of slotted in on a third line position with Nick Wah and Bobby McMahon. Now, if Nick Wall can be a setup guy for Dakota Joshua, that would be fantastic. Maybe they can find some chemistry there. Maybe Bobby McMahon throws his weight around a little bit and is able to make some plays as well. Uh because they need Bobby McMahon to bounce back. Uh that’s kind of where I see him. And the reason why I say that I kind of have him there is because I’m not sure that that’s really him at his full potential, but that is a nasty big physical third line that has speed, that has skill, that has a bit of everything. They can, you know, excuse me, a guy that can toss hands. I’m still dealing with this cough. I do apologize, but they the Leafs need to do something else here. I still don’t think that they’re done. And I think a lot of people are looking at their money and saying, “Oh, they don’t have a lot. Let’s walk through it together.” So, if you take a look at their cap space, their projected cap space right now is $2 million. You’re probably not getting a top six player for $2 million. And I think the Leafs are still looking for that. Henry Thrun is likely going to be starting the season in the miners. And that or hey, let’s let’s do this on the fly. Henry Thrun will be the extra in the press box, which means we’ll be sending Philippe Meyers to the Miners. Now, you’re going to see Michael Pazetta as an extra extra forward here. You’re going to see David Camp. I still am under the impression that this guy is going to be traded. Now, let’s for the sake of this video, and I’m not saying that this is going to happen. We’re just going to randomly trade him to the San Jose Sharks for absolutely nothing. I’m not saying this is going to happen. I’m just showing you guys what it will look like if the Leafs get like a a late round pick for David Camp and they just save a little bit of money for themsel. What does that give you? $5.3 million still and the Leafs are at almost a full roster count and they don’t even need to have that many players if they don’t want to. And I still think that there’s room for them to make moves. Could they use a million and a half of that and resign Nick Robertson for more depth? I’m sure they could. Hell, do you want to also trade Cali Yarncroak? Let’s see what that looks like. Could Call Cali Yarn Croak be a guy that gets traded to Seattle? Okay, I I know I I believe he actually played there before, but let’s just say the Leafs dump him there and they just want to get a couple late round picks and they end up clearing some more cap. I’m not saying this is going to happen, but look at the cap space. $7.4 4 million for the Maple Leafs to go out there and fill one spot. They have their blue line. They have their goalenders. They have extras in the press box and they have depth in the miners. Could you throw an East Cowan up there or do you go out and do you get a guy for your top six and bump everybody down? I have no idea. I know the Nasm Cadri rumors are still out there. I still don’t think it’s going to happen, but the Leafs can mess around with their cap space. And you know, Bobby McMahon’s name has been out there. Max Doiy’s name has been out there. I still think Doi shouldn’t be a centerman. I think he should play with Matthews because they had good chemistry and Doi passes the puck way too much and he was playing at times with guys that couldn’t finish. If Domi is going to feed Matthews all day long, I’m fine with that. He’s going to feed N and Matthews. Cool. Let’s see if he can work on the first line. If he doesn’t, throw him down in the bottom of the lineup and then trade him if you have to. I think the Maple Leafs should trade Camp and Yarn Croak and just try to get guys that you can bury in the minors. Get some draft picks. Maybe just Camp. I don’t know. It’s up to the Leafs to see what they can do because at this point the Leafs could probably afford to sign Nick Robertson as depth and then also go out there and get more. The Leafs need internal competition. If you’re going to have guys like Robertson competing, guys like Bobby McMahon, guys like Lorent, Machelli, Joshua, Cowan, whoever they trade for, it’s competition. And I think the Maple Leafs are trying to fill out their bottom six kind of similar to the way that the Florida Panthers did. There’s pros and cons to that. Obviously, the the pros are them winning the Stanley Cup. The cons is that it doesn’t work for everybody. So, I I don’t know. This this is an interesting move because again, it’s a guy that can play in the bottom six. I’m curious to know if they try him with Tavvaris and Knander. I I’m just curious. I I don’t know if it’s going to happen. And I think Michelli has got that second line spot right now. There’s a lot of things to think about here. This video is super long for a Dakota Joshua trade, but I want you guys to comment down below and let me know what you think as well. If you are new here, make sure to like this video and subscribe. Join the squad. I love you guys. Thank you for watching. Sound off in the comments. Peace.

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