Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours. The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to investigate the trade market for a centre. The latest rumours say the Leafs are interested in Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens.
Toronto has been looking for a centre since the beginning of this season. Much so that they’ve tried converting winger William Nylander into a centre during training camp and preseason. After a few games, that plan didn’t stick with head coach Craig Berube’s system. The third-line centre role is what the Leafs would like to lock down. In the meantime, they’ve played several different players in that role. That includes Max Domi, John Tavares, Pontus Holmberg, Steven Lorentz, and rookie Fraser Minten.
The lines have been shuffled around for a couple of different reasons. This would allow Berube to learn more about his team in his first season in charge. In addition, several injuries forced the Leafs to find skaters to play that role. At one point this season, the Leafs had eight players unavailable to suit up. In that group of players, three centres were sidelined due to injury. Auston Matthews, David Kampf and Domi were out, making the Leafs very thin down the middle.
Evans a Great Fit For Toronto
David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod believes that general manager Brad Treliving and the Leafs will pursue Evans before the trade deadline. Pagnotta also mentioned that the Los Angeles Kings could be in the hunt for the centre. Evans is a responsible two-way forward who could find a spot on many playoff teams and even Stanley Cup contenders like the Maple Leafs.
Selected in the seventh round (207th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft, Evans is in his sixth NHL season with the Habs. Under head coach Martin St. Louis, the 28-year-old has been trusted more with each passing season. This campaign, he’s been averaging 16 minutes per game. Also, he leads Canadiens forwards in defensive-zone draws taken and starts. Additionally, the Toronto native leads all NHL forwards with ice time on the penalty kill. It’s safe to say that Evans is a PK specialist.
Comparing Shut-Down Centres
Evans plays a similar role to Kampf. They’re best at keeping the puck ahead of them and shutting down the opposition. Furthermore, Evans could be a great replacement for Kampf if the Leafs chose to move on from him. Firstly, Toronto would save $700K in salary cap space if they were to make this switch. Evans earns $1.7M against the cap while Kampf makes $2.4M per year. Considering Evans only has one year remaining on his contract, there’s not much of a risk if he’s not a good fit. Evans is also one year younger than Kampf. Another pro to potentially acquiring Evans is that he is a right-handed shot. Earlier in the season, Berube admitted that the Leafs are missing a right-handed centre to take faceoffs. Adding Evans could solve that issue.
This season, Evans has scored five goals and 14 points in 26 games for the Habs. That puts him on pace to potentially set a new career-high in all scoring categories. His best campaign was the 2021-22 season where he potted 13 goals and 29 points in 72 games.