Photo credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
With the NHL waiver deadline passing, the Maple Leafs could look to a new face on the market after Detroit waived young forward Jonatan Berggren on Monday.
It’s past 2 PM and you know what that means in the scope of the NHL, it’s waiver wire time.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had the opportunity to add some insurance but felt they didn’t need to through that batch of waived players, but could find something in a new one.
Three players hit waivers including one intriguing forward
On Monday, three players hit waivers: Chicago’s Laurent Brossoit, Dallas’ Vladislav Kolyachonok, and Detroit’s Jonatan Berggren.
Interestingly enough, Brossoit was just recalled from the minors by the Blackhawks after they placed Connor Bedard on the IR. He made headlines recently for scoring a goalie goal during his conditioning stint.
But the focus here for the Maple Leafs (as much as they could Brossoit) is adding some youth and speed to their lineup. So with that being said, the team should look to Berggren for some cheap assistance.
Why Toronto should entertain claiming Jonatan Berggren
Berggren, 25, has not really found his footing in Detroit since being drafted 33rd overall in 2018. He has 64 points in 169 games (31 goals, 33 assists) but showed a lot of promise in his debut season with 28 points in 67 games (15 goals, 13 assists).
He’s not the most defensively sound forward, and it would be akin to taking a flier on Matias Maccelli; as the team did this summer. But Berggren isn’t terrible on defense and would offer an improvement over Maccelli and even Max Domi in Toronto’s end.
One thing he’ll help with is speed, and while he’s not Bobby McMann levels of acceleration, he does add much more overall speed to the lineup and even in a bottom-six role could get things going quicker.
If anything, Toronto has a lot of bodies that are prone to injury and adding Berggren would give them at least some stability in case of emergency; even at the AHL level as the Marlies deal with ailments of their own.
It’s not a guarantee but for Toronto, it’s better than nothing. We’ll know if they’re on the same wavelength in 24 hours when the deadline to claim players has passed.
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