Stop us if you've heard this one before - the Toronto Maple Leafs want to find a taker for Joffrey Lupul. Lupul, now 32, remains a topnotch scorer with some significant holes to his game. He's never going to be overly responsible defensively and his injury woes pop up at least one or twice per season, but if he can stay relatively healthy and get hot at the right time, he can be the perfect kind of pickup for a team looking to make a deep postseason run - something about which the Leafs don't really need to concern themselves for the next year or two.
It makes sense then, as Kevin McGran reports, that Lupul is "the core player most likely to be dealt sooner rather than later."
The 12-year NHL veteran was the subject of any number of trade rumors last season as well in the frantic lead up to the deadline. Considering his $5.25 million cap hit on a deal that doesn't expire until after the 2017-18 season, and new Leafs head coach attempting to install a new system and turn the page of the wrongs of the past decade or so, the Leafs would likely love to send Lupul, along with a handful of other players, packing.
As McGran notes, veterans like Brad Boyes, Rich Clune, Michael Grabner and PA Parenteau look like "trade-deadline fodder" as well. Like Lupul, they're not coveted assets at this point in their careers and may find themselves out of the league altogether by season's end.
While Daniel Winnik, who the Leafs shipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins last Feb. in exchange for a couple of draft picks and Zach Sill, and Shawn Matthias likely carry value to the league's other teams, the likes of Boyes and Clune may not bring back much, if anything.
In the end, what the start to the 2015-16 NHL season has shown is that Toronto really is at least a year or two, if not more, away from contention - even for a playoff spot. While prospects like Connor Brown, William Nylander and Mitch Marner continue their development elsewhere, Babcock remains hard at work instilling a confidence into the roster, while GM Lou Lamoriello does his best to restock the system with cheap young talent.
And until Brown, Nylander, Marner and Co. are ready to make the jump, the Maple Leafs' focus will remain squarely on mastering the mental aspect of the game and turning players like Lupul and, really, any player not named Morgan Rielly, into whatever assets they believe can help them down the road to rebuilding the roster.
