Vancouver Canucks acquire forward Josh Leivo from Toronto

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      It looks like Josh Leivo got his wish, exactly 10 months later.

      Subsequently, the Vancouver Canucks might have gotten theirs. A day after dropping Brendan Leipsic to waivers, Vancouver acquired the 25-year-old forward for AHLer Michael Carcone.

      For the Leafs, it was a move done for roster room as William Nylander returns after a lengthy contract holdout.

      And while the Canucks will also need to make room on their squad, it’s clear the team would prefer having a player of Leivo’s calibre over some of the other bottom-six options on the roster.

      It’s not clear what this move means for players like Adam Gaudette, Tyler Motte or Tim Schaller (the Canucks will likely have to move two players for Leivo and Sven Baertschi, whenever he returns), but this is a worthwhile gamble.

      In limited playing time, Leivo has proven himself an effective player and it’s clear he thought he wasn’t getting a great chance with the Leafs.

      A third-round pick in the 2011 NHL draft, Leivo has spent parts of six seasons with the Maple Leafs, and all but the last two have seen him shuttle up and down between the NHL and the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

      So far this year Leivo has six points in 27 games, which many won’t find particularly exciting. However, he’s been a positive Relative Corsi player throughout his NHL career, even as he’s been put in less than favourable situations on the ice.

      To wit, the winger has started 64.4 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone (he was at 69.9 percent last year), but has shown a scoring touch both in the AHL and in the bigs at times (he put up 10 points in 13 games with the Leafs in 2016-17 with a healthier percentage of offensive zone starts).

      This is a good acquisition by the Canucks that essentially cost the club nothing and gives them a player who can play anywhere in the lineup (that sound you hear is coach Travis Green salivating).

      But look for Vancouver to try and squeeze some of that offensive touch out of him, at least at first. Bo Horvat has played with a cavalcade of underwhelming wingers so far this season and it would make sense to see if Leivo can produce with the star centre.

      Follow @ncaddell on Twitter

      More

      Comments