Trade pitch sees Toronto Maple Leafs part ways with breakout forward who may not fit in Craig Berube's lineup

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3 days ago

Trade pitch sees Toronto Maple Leafs part ways with breakout forward who may not fit in Craig Berube's lineup originally appeared on The Sporting News
Although the Toronto Maple Leafs have had a pretty solid offseason so far, they are still missing a couple key pieces for Craig Berube's new-look lineup.
Swapping out finesse for physicality, the Maple Leafs are looking to be meaner, tougher, and potentially downright nasty at points. Their added depth shows they have a clear goal in mind, but they still lack a solid playoff performer.
Instead of the typical names that have been thrown about, and all this talk about expensive top-six targets, perhaps it would best behoove Brad Treliving to think smaller, well at least in name value.
That's what Cole Shelton of Heavy.com thinks, as he believes the team should take a chance at swapping out Bobby McMann for Alexei Toropchenko, but would it actually work out for the Maple Leafs?
Looking at it from the outside, not really considering that McMann just scored 20 goals for the team, and Toropchenko only hit four goals last season, but does have 60 points in 259 games (30 goals, 30 assists).
But he has familiarity with Craig Berube, having played under him and finding some moderate success. He also adds a huge dynamic; literally. He's 6'6, 222 pounds and is a physical force (223 hits last season). If he can find his offensive success again, he can add roughly the same output as McMann, with a better fit in the overall lineup.
With how the Maple Leafs are built now, adding Toropchenko is a great way to keep that DNA change while also improving over McMann's inconsistencies (McMann had no goals this postseason, at least Toropchenko had two) and at only 26, clears the Leafs forward in age by a good few years; McMann just turned 29.
The Leafs would have to do some some shuffling to get Toropchenko in the lineup, where we could see something like this:
Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Max Domi
Matias Maccelli -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Dakota Joshua -- Nicolas Roy -- Nick Robertson
Alexey Toropchenko - Scott Laughton -- Steven Lorentz
This all depends on Toronto moving Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf out of the lineup, but overall this gives Craig Berube a massive amount of depth, while still giving him the physical presence he almost demands.
It may seem silly to sell on Bobby McMann especially after a 20-goal season, but the Maple Leafs are in the business of change, and there's no one better to bring that than Alexey Toropchenko.