The Leafs should circle back and trade for Coyotes defenceman Matt Dumba

The NHL’s trade deadline is just over a month away and according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking into every defenceman in the league. GM Brad Treliving is trying to find ways to upgrade the defensive corps and before the March 8th trade deadline, the Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes could become trade partners.

The Maple Leafs target? Coyotes d-man Matt Dumba. The same Dumba that Treliving had inter10est in during free agency and who the Leafs initially ‘wanted’ to sign instead of John Klingberg. Likely one of the few do-overs Toronto’s GM would like back at this point, less than a year into the job.

Dumba’s Likely Available to Highest Bidder

The Coyotes head into All-Star weekend with a 23-22-3 record, sitting five points back of the second wildcard spot in the West, with two teams to leapfrog. Their GM Bill Armstrong will be monitoring results in February to see which kind of direction the team is looking to head down before the trade deadline and if the ‘Yotes don’t make up any ground, expect to see Armstrong move out a few pending free agents, with Dumba being one of them.

He’s owed $3.9 million against the cap this season, which isn’t exactly music to the ears of Leafs fans, considering Treliving signed Klingberg instead for $4.15 million. Dumba doesn’t have any trade protection and can be moved at will. He is currently nursing an upper-body injury, which of course should be monitored, but by all accounts, nobody in the Coyotes’ organization thinks it’s too serious and he’ll be back into action in no time.

Arizona is projected to have over $42 million in cap space this summer, but to this point, there hasn’t been much noise about a contract extension for Dumba. He’s had a solid season, but it feels like Sean Durzi has taken most of the spotlight with his breakout season in the desert. Again, if no contract talks are ongoing, and Armstrong’s looking to sell, Treliving should be doing his best to find out exactly what the Coyotes GM is looking for in return.

Dumba’s Game Suits Maple Leafs’ Needs

The Maple Leafs’ blue line has been a topic of conversation for a long time and that hasn’t changed one bit with Treliving in charge. If anything, the noise has picked up in a major way because of how open the Leafs’ GM has been about wanting to make upgrades. It’s never discussed who exactly he’d like to replace but Mark Giordano, to me, would be a great place to start.

Dumba’s a defender through and through, but that hasn’t always been the case. Back in his Minnesota Wild days, he was putting up 50 points and showing off his two-way game. The offensive production has lessened the past few seasons, however, he’s someone who can play 20 minutes a game on the Leafs’ second pair and at 29 years old, could be in the cards for the next three or four seasons. Through 44 games this season, the Regina, Sask native has blocked 84 shots, and laid 61 hits, including this big one against the Predators: