The Toronto Maple Leafs have made one move just before the deadline, acquiring Nic Petan from the Winnipeg Jets. In return, the Jets will receive Swedish forward Par Lindholm.
Petan, 23, is another talented offensive player that has failed to get a big opportunity in the NHL. That lack of opportunity may come because of his size, as Petan measures in as one of the smaller players in the NHL at 5’9″ 179-lbs. In Winnipeg, there were just simply too many other options for him to ever really crack the lineup on a consistent basis, a problem he doesn’t exactly escape by moving to Toronto. In 108 NHL games across four seasons, Petan has registered 23 points. In 108 AHL contests across the same timeline, he has 89 points. The second number is what the Maple Leafs are betting on, along with Petan’s exquisite history from the WHL where he twice cracked the 100-point plateau.
None of that production though is guaranteed, especially not when he’ll have to battle another excellent group of wingers for playing time. While Petan does have experience at center, Toronto head coach has seemed to prefer Frederik Gauthier’s size in the middle of his fourth line, moving Lindholm to the wing whenever both were in the lineup. Toronto also recalled AHL All-Star Trevor Moore today, another player Petan will have to battle for playing time.
For the Jets, they’ve added a more responsible and experienced option in Lindholm for an upcoming playoff run. While he is in his first season in North America, Lindholm has played several years of professional hockey in Sweden and even represented his country at the Olympic Games last year. There isn’t a lot of offensive upside there as proven by Lindholm’s single goal in 61 games this season, but he is an effective penalty killer and can move back and forth between center and wing without losing much defensive caliber.
Notably, Petan will be just a restricted free agent at the end of the season while Lindholm is scheduled to hit UFA status. It’s very reasonable to assume that the Jets were not going to issue Petan a qualifying offer and risk arbitration, so decided to move him to an interested team in exchange for whatever they could get.
surprised they gave up lindholm who played every day but good to get a young player with some upside. wonder if their plan is to try and role out 4 lines of offense knowing they will use the kadri line as a defence first line vs most clubs in the playoffs.
I think the Leafs really dropped the ball in not adding any depth pieces like Clifford, Glendening, McQuaid etc. Their fourth line is terrible. Their defensive depth is terrible and they have no grit. They’re on course to play the Bruins in the first round and this team is not built to beat the Bruins in a seven game series.
manos you may be right but it’s a weird situation. are they tough enough to beat the Bruins? well they were close last year. that being said, they can’t downgrade skill to get tough or else they will be owned by the Bolts in round 2 like Bruins were. The leafs current talent can compete with the bolts but certainly they need to get by that first round to have any chance and agree on that a depth piece would have been something they should have looked at. it seems the mantra was, unless it’s a game changing move, it’s not worth making a move
Leafs lost in 7 to the bruins last year. They’ve added Taveras and Muzzin to the lineup,,,Johnson and Kap have another year under their belt,,,,,,,just sayin
Sure they added Taveras and Muzzin, but you could add 10 more Tavares’s, and still not make up for the defensive lapses, often caused by Gardiner who they should trade for a bag of pucks. ….Hell, just give me an empty bag and I’ll make the trade.
Agreed Frank, hell I’d bring Justin Holl back up to skate beside zaitsev. In the couple games he was in last season, he was a pretty good defensemen! Gardiner is just a complete waste.
It was about getting Moore a spot in lineup. Faster.
I echo every word
Rosters explanned you didn’t need to trade Par to open a roster spot for Moore !
I I don’t see how Moore would put them over the cap either