Maple Leafs Interested in Blackhawks’ McCabe, Murphy

The 29-year-old Murphy is cut from a similar cloth, albeit as a right-shot defender with more size. The 6-foot-4, 212-pound veteran has five goals and seven points in 48 contests while averaging 19:28 of ice time per game. He too has racked up plenty of hits with 99 on the season alongside 104 blocks. Murphy skated in nine postseason contests in the 2019-20 season with Chicago.

Leafs Looking to Bolster Blueline

Despite sitting seventh in both overall defense and expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five, as per Natural Stat Trick, the Leafs are looking to add to their back end. More specifically, the club’s 5-2 loss to the league-leading Boston Bruins in their final game prior to the All-Star break was an eye-opener when it came to the performance of the Rasmus Sandin/Timothy Liljegren.

Rasmus Sandin, 22, and Timothy Liljegren, 23, have played well for the majority of the season but were exposed against the Bruins, combining for a minus-six rating in a game where the Maple Leafs earned 61.9% of the high-danger scoring chances and 58.9% of the attempted shots at the net.

With veteran Jake Muzzin looking increasingly likely to miss the remainder of the season — at least — Maple Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas would be prudent to look for a veteran upgrade to his bottom pair. Sandin leads all full-time Leafs with a 61.53% Corsi For% at five-on-five as he’s largely played well in a sheltered role, but was overmatched against the veteran Bruins. Only Justin Holl has a worse Corsi For% than Liljegren among the club’s top-six defenders.

It’s certainly easy to expect Dubas to make at least one or two impact deals in a potential make-or-break season for his team, but also a contract year for himself.