The for sale sign is up in Toronto and everything must go.
Just one day after trading Shawn Matthias to the Colorado Avalanche, the Toronto Maple Leafs made another deal on Monday when they sent defenseman Roman Polak and forward Nick Spaling to the San Jose Sharks for second-round draft picks in 2017 and 2018, as well as forward Raffi Torres.
This deal comes just two weeks after they sent captain Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators in a nine-player trade.
For the Maple Leafs, this deal is a pretty stunning return (and on the surface a pretty big overpayment on the Sharks' end) for two players that are free agents after the season, have no use to them in the future, and don't really seem to have much value right now now. It would also seem to raise the price of rentals everywhere across the league over the next week as we approach the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 29.
Between the two of them, Polak and Spaling have combined for just two goals and 20 total points this season.
Polak, 29, is more of a stay-at-home defenseman than a puck-mover, while Spaling is a fourth-line forward that came over to Toronto over the summer from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Phil Kessel trade. At best these are depth players that aren't going to make much of a difference.
The deal also continues Toronto's trend of stockpiling as many draft picks as it possibly can in the future. The Maple Leafs already have 12 picks in 2016 (more than any other team in the NHL) and now have eight in 2017, including three second-round picks.
With several more upcoming free agents on the roster, you can bet they will be adding more over the next week.
Torres, who was suspended 41 games earlier this season for his latest run-in with the NHL's department of player safety for a hit to the head of Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg. He has appeared in six games for the Sharks' AHL team -- the San Jose Barracudas -- this season and not recorded a single point. His addition in the trade is like for paperwork purposes (clearing a contract spot in San Jose) as the team seems to have no plans to play him in the NHL. The Maple Leafs have already loaned him back to the Barracudas where he will continue to play.
