Photo credit: John Jones – Imagn Images

Despite having just been traded, the Toronto Maple Leafs could look to add Jacob Trouba into the fold ahead of the trade deadline, per an official report.

The New York Rangers were looking to make some changes after an early-season slump and they ended up making some noise by trading their former captain, Jacob Trouba, to the Anaheim Ducks for a 4th round draft pick and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen.

It should come as no surprise that the Toronto Maple Leafs have had interest in Trouba. The veteran defenseman brings size, physicality, defensive acumen, and some offensive pop while standing in at 6’3 and 215 pounds.

Despite having just been moved, Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun believes that the Maple Leafs could look into acquiring the defenseman ahead of the trade deadline, but there is a rather large caveat.
“Leafs management likes big defenceman Jacob Trouba, the recently traded Rangers captain. And they might have some interest in Trouba, if Anaheim or somebody else eats a lot of salary, at the deadline. Odds are, the Leafs, with limited cap room, will look to add a forward of prominence in March…”
 

Trouba carries another year of term at a cap hit of $8 million and it was rather shocking that the Rangers didn’t have to retain any salary when they traded him. Anaheim had the cap space to burn and currently sit with around $14.4 million available at their disposal, according to Puck Pedia.

The Maple Leafs, on the other hand, don’t have that luxury as they are right up to the upper cap limit. So, any trade involving Trouba would have to require either Anaheim eating a large chunk of his remaining cap hit and/or bringing in a third team to do the same.

In recent years, many teams have jumped in as the third party to eat an additional 25% in exchange for draft compensation. However, with another year of term under Trouba’s belt, it makes things a little more difficult to stomach.

Trouba is expected to make his Ducks debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, so it remains to be seen where they stand on the rugged defenseman. However, if he were to become available once more, the rebuilding Ducks will have a lot of interested teams at their doorstep, including the Maple Leafs.