Tomas Plekanec celebrates a goal against the New York Rangers.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins declared Sunday they are all in when it comes to chasing the Stanley Cup.
The Bruins stepped up first when they sent a first-round pick in this year's NHL entry draft, forwards Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey, defence prospect Ryan Lindgren and a 2019 seventh-round pick to the New York Rangers for winger Rick Nash. The Leafs countered a few hours later by trading a 2018 second-round pick, prospects Kerby Rychel and Rinat Valiev for centre Tomas Plekanec and minor-league forward Kyle Baun, grandson of Leafs legend Bobby Baun.
Nash and Plekanec are both classic rental players – they will be unrestricted free agents on July 1 and Plekanec did not rule out returning to the Canadiens. Both came at a high cost for a few months of their services, although the Leafs and Bruins are deep enough in talent they can afford it.
The only problem is one of those teams will likely be finished after the first round of the NHL playoffs. Under the format adopted by the league in the 2013-14 season, the second- and third-place teams in each division play each other in the first round while the first-place team plays a wild-card team.
This system was created to restore divisional rivalries in the hopes of selling more tickets. When the teams in a conference are evenly matched, this format works much better, but the NHL still has not come to grips with this whole parity thing, which was ushered in with the salary cap in 2005-06.
A year ago, for example, the top three teams in the Eastern Conference were the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets, who finished one through three in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus was bounced by the Penguins in the first round, who did the same to the Capitals in the second.
This season, the three best teams in the Eastern Conference are the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins and the Maple Leafs, who are duking it out for first, second and third in the Atlantic Division. At this point, the most likely outcome is the Bruins and Leafs meeting in the first round with the winner facing Tampa in Round 2.
Rolling the dice with all those draft picks and prospects is a big risk considering what lies ahead in the first round, but it certainly is interesting the Leafs are stepping up to try it. And there is no doubt going after Plekanec, who may only be on the roster until July, signals management's belief this team is ready to challenge for a championship at least one year ahead of schedule in the rebuilding program.
Plekanec, 35, is a career-long Hab, who made the adjustment from a scoring star in his younger years, who was good for 20-plus goals and 50 to 70 points a season, to a shutdown centre.
He said in a conference call Sunday, "I guess I will talk to the coaching staff tomorrow about my role on the team." Plekanec is expected to replace Dominic Moore as the Leafs' fourth-line centre starting either Monday night in Tampa against the Lightning or Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.
With 24 points in 60 games this season with the Canadiens, Plekanec brings a little more offensive spark to the fourth line than Moore, who has 11 points in 46 games. In addition to providing more insurance at centre – Auston Matthews may be out as long as four weeks with a separated shoulder, according to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos – the move would also give Leafs head coach Mike Babcock more flexibility in deploying his lines.
The addition of speedy right winger Kasperi Kapanen to the fourth line a month ago made that unit more of a threat offensively. But that was a bit less so on Saturday when Babcock moved Leo Komarov back to his old job beside centre Nazem Kadri to try to neutralize Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in a 4-3 win over the Bruins.
That win showed the Leafs can play with the Bruins even without Matthews. Adding Plekanec means the fourth line still has some pop even if Komarov is moved around.
Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello also left himself with US$3.4-million in salary-cap space by getting the Canadiens to pay 50 per cent of Plekanec's remaining salary. This allows room to make more moves on Monday when the NHL's trade deadline hits at 3 p.m. EST, another sign Leafs management thinks the time to shoot for a championship is now.
Lamoriello did not say as much, of course, but his players think so.
"We want to go for it," Kadri said after the Leafs beat the Bruins on Saturday. "I'm talking wins, that's what we're here for, to win. We don't want to go as far as the first or second round. We're here to make a push."