Maple Leafs acquire Canadiens’ Tomas Plekanec in 4-player deal

The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired center Tomas Plekanec and winger Kyle Baun from the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman Rinat Valiev, forward Kerby Rychel, and a 2018 second-round pick, the teams announced Sunday. The deal solidifies the Leafs’ depth up the middle as the Habs begin selling off what they can to reload for next season.

Plekanec was one of the top rental players to be available on the market before the trade deadline Monday. He’s no longer the top two-way center that he was at his peak, but the 35-year-old is still a solid role player who has recorded 24 points in 60 games for Montreal this season.

The Leafs already had strong center depth with Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, and Tyler Bozak, so Plekanec will allow them to roll four lines deep up the middle if everyone is healthy.

You can’t help but wonder if Toronto was partially compelled to make the move after the Pittsburgh Penguins landed center Derick Brassard in a three-team trade Saturday. The two-time defending Cup winners now have Brassard, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin at center, so the Leafs may have decided that they needed to strengthen their already impressive forward group.

In exchange for Plekanec and Baun, a throw-in AHL depth player, the Maple Leafs gave up a trio of future assets. However, fans in Toronto will likely be pleased to see that top prospects like Kasperi Kapanen, Timothy Liljegren, and Andreas Johnsson were retained while still adding a solid piece to the lineup.

Valiev was Toronto’s third-round pick (No. 68 overall) in 2014. He’s spent most of the past three seasons in the AHL, where he’s flashed potential but been unable to earn an opportunity on an improving Leafs team. Rychel was a 2013 first-round pick by Columbus who flamed out there before being dumped in Toronto, where the Leafs still managed to find some value in him as a piece to this trade.

Neither of those players is likely to be a major piece for Montreal, but they’re affordable depth pieces that could fill spots at the bottom of the NHL roster. The team also receive the Leafs’ second-round pick, which now gives it four picks in the second round this year: Toronto’s, Chicago’s, Washington’s, and its own. That’s six picks in the first three rounds for Montreal.

Over at Eyes on the Prize, SB Nation’s Canadiens blog, they like the deal for both sides.

So the Leafs get to add some short-term depth for a potential Stanley Cup, and the Habs add a few decent pieces to their stockpile to fill out organizational depth. We’ll have to see how this move impacts the market leading up to the trade deadline at 3 p.m. ET Monday.