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Howard Berger’s latest piece claims the Maple Leafs were close to acquiring Quinn Hughes, but could the team have actually pulled it off?
The Quinn Hughes blockbuster sent shockwaves through the NHL as the Minnesota Wild went all-in this season, sending a king’s ransom to the Vancouver Canucks to bring him aboard, leaving other teams in the dust.
The Maple Leafs were one of 31 other interested teams even if they weren’t public, as you can’t help but take notice when a generational talent is available on the market.
The fact that the team didn’t make a move is certainly not sitting well with one particular reporter.
Howard Berger’s teardown of Toronto claims they were close to bringing in Quinn Hughes
In a recent article by beat reporter Howard Berger, it was an opinion piece masquerading under the premise the Maple Leafs were ‘razor-close’ to acquiring Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.
When he wasn’t berating the team for everything under the sun, Berger took note that Brad Treliving was scared to make a move if it happened to include Easton Cowan and Matthew Knies at the behest of young Leaf fans and potential backlash – the team stood pat:
But, apart from the first-round pick, it was hardly a haul the Maple Leafs could not have matched, or bettered, were the somnolent locals interested in actually winning something.
Instead, general manager Brad Treliving probably recoiled in horror when the Canucks mentioned the likes of Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan. Can’t trade the future for the present even when the future is nearly 60 years late.
It was then he laid into the potential for Maple Leafs fans revolting against Treliving if he were to trade both men; knowledge that Berger has no real idea about because he’s not the Leafs GM:
Young Leaf fans, in particular, will be thrilled that Hughes went to a rival NHL team. The mere notion of losing Knies and/or Cowan would create anger and torture among those who know absolutely nothing about success beyond mid-April.
All of this article was is Berger’s opinion on the team over the past 40 years, and he feels confident the Maple Leafs could have had an even better package for Hughes.
There was nothing concrete in the entire article that shows the Maple Leafs were as close as he believes.
While he claims it’s tongue-in-cheek; reading between the lines shows a serious distaste for management:
I write this blog with tongue in cheek, simply because nothing ever changes with the Leafs.
It never needs to, regardless of championship droughts or teams with no hope of winning the Stanley Cup. Going hard after the sort of player that almost NEVER comes up in trade dialogue is neither required nor expected…
In such a stale, yet contented, environment, why should management even consider assuming risk?
Knies could score 40 goals some day. Cowan might be another McJesus. Hang on to them. Surely, some 35-year-old blue-line retread will be on the market at the trade deadline. Then, the Maple Leafs will once again go all in.
It’s the Toronto way. Has been, forever. With easily predictable results.
It’s a weird dichotomy in saying that Toronto was close to bringing him in, then state later on that doing homework on a player like this is not required nor expected. If it’s not, then how does the team present a deal in the first place and how were they ‘razor-close?’
Toronto never had a chance to bring in Quinn Hughes
First off, I want to state this is purely my opinion. No, the Maple Leafs were not ‘razor-close’ to acquiring Quinn Hughes because they don’t have the same level of assets.
Vancouver acquired a 23-year old two-way center, a 21-year old blossoming prospect, a 20-year old potentially elite two-way defender, and a first-round pick.
In comparison, Toronto would then need to send Easton Cowan, Matthew Knies, Matias Maccelli, Ben Danford, and at least their last first-rounder at bare minimum.
Cowan and Ohgren could be considered equals in terms of potential, as both are former first-round picks and have bright futures in the league albeit one is more offensive (Cowan) and Ohgren is more well-rounded but not as flashy.
Knies supersedes Rossi in size and skill, but isn’t a center; a premium position Vancouver needed.
Who was Toronto going to trade at center? Auston Matthews? John Tavares? That’s about all they have and there’s no way Nic Roy or Scott Laughton are moving the needle for Hughes.
But no one on the Maple Leafs can hold a candle to the potential of Zeev Buium, an outstanding offensive defender with the tools to be an elite two-way defenseman in the league. Is he the level of Hughes? No; but few are.
He’s leagues above Danford, who is still a bit of wild-card as to what he can bring to the table, and no combination of defensive prospects can match his talent without stripping the farm but even then it’s really not enough.
So they try roster players. You think Vancouver is going to take on an aging and slow Morgan Rielly? Are you going to dangle Jake McCabe – your top shutdown defender? Vancouver is replacing a potential MVP on the blueline; they need to make it count.
Berger living in the past does no good, especially when he frames a teardown and personal rebuke of the team as some sort of insider knowledge regardless of its ‘tongue-in-cheek’ nature.
The Maple Leafs could have added Quinn Hughes according to Berger, and in his mind they probably could have added Sidney Crosby or they could have added Wayne Gretzky over the years. But do you know why they didn’t?
Not because they were scared. But because they never had the assets in the first place to make it happen.
And that’s just one man’s opinion.
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Beat reporter says the Leafs nearly pulled off a trade for Quinn Hughes, here’s the context
Did Toronto have a chance at acquiring Quinn Hughes?