Maple Leafs Still Team To Watch For Devil's Defenseman

Things continue not to be great for the Toronto Maple Leafs on defense as Chris Tanev should miss the remainder of the regular season at least and there were recent injury scares for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Carlo. The defense has to be upgraded, especially since there isn't a high chance the top-6 right now will even stay healthy for the rest of the season and into playoffs when games get rougher.

A right-shot defenseman who has offensive capabilities, defensive capabilities, or both would do the trick at this point, but the Maple Leafs have been linked to someone who has been an elite d-man in the league for years and is highly capable of offense.

Frank Seravalli said, "The Maple Leafs continue to be a team to look at in the Dougie Hamilton sweepstakes." It is no secret that the New Jersey Devils are trying to trade their veteran offensive defenseman, especially considering how Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec have developed and played this season. Hamilton was even a healthy scratch for a game a little while ago.

The Devils desperately need better forwards and have more than enough defenseman to spare to be able to make a trade like sending Hamilton off. The 32-year-old's contract won't be all that easy to move though. His cap hit is $9 million AAV for two more years after this one, but he does have a 10-team trade list in his contract.

While this season hasn't been great offensively for Hamilton with five goals and 17 points in 46 games, he has put up 40+ points in nine of his last 12 years in the NHL, playing less than 65 games in five of them. His offensive struggles aren't all on him, the team hasn't been able to score like they normally do and he's been challenged for ice time and offensive opportunities by Hughes and Nemec, the future on defense.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs can score more and have gotten 30+ points from Morgan Rielly and Ekman-Larsson, but neither are true offensive forces like Hamilton is when he's at his best. The money would be able to be worked out, especially if Toronto is able to send back a forward to suit the needs of New Jersey, and Hamilton is reportedly willing to go to the Maple Leafs as well. We'll have to wait and see how things play out, but Hamilton is a highly likely trade candidate for the Devils.