Welcome back, Prairie Jesus!
The Toronto Maple Leafs have claimed forward Adam Brooks on waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights. Brooks was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the fourth round in 2016, was claimed on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens in October, and claimed again by Vegas in November.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have claimed Adam Brooks on waivers from Vegas
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 16, 2022
Brooks carries a cap hit of $725,000 this season and will be an RFA at the end of the season. He’s had an injury-plagued season alongside healthy scratches, but has scored two goals in 11 games this season.
This makes the possibility of a Nick Ritchie trade almost inevitable because he’s using up almost double of Brooks’ cap space as dead weight while on the Marlies. They could trade him today and free up all that space, or paper Timothy Liljegren down at 5pm and sort it out in the near future.
One other caveat is that Brooks is currently injured and on IR (not LTIR, just regular IR) so his cap hit is counting against the Leafs salary cap.
The Leafs next game is tomorrow at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
How Brooks fits with the Leafs
We know a lot about Adam Brooks as a player. He’s full of heart, he works hard, and he’s pretty good defensively while having some ability to put the puck in the net. Simply put, he’s a good fourth liner, especially in a system like what the Leafs have where the fourth line doesn’t play much and are being asked to win on goals (aka variance) while maybe not winning in shots.
I don’t want to say this, but Jason Spezza has fallen behind when it comes to NHL 5v5 play. He’s still got the shot, and on the power play he’s great, but Sheldon Keefe has noticed Spezza has been getting outplayed and has reduced his minutes by a noticeable amount. If Spezza was someone else, let’s say Michael Amadio, Brooks would be in the lineup ahead of him. But he’s Jason Freaking Spezza, so the Leafs will find a role for him. Maybe there’s going to be a splitting of games until the trade deadline, who knows, but I think Brooks will play. At the very least, Brooks is a useful injury replacement and I love having him back.
UPDATE
The close my previous point, the Leafs have in fact paper Timothy Liljegren down to the Marlies today in order to make room for Brooks. The Leafs now have 13 forwards and six defensemen on the roster, along with two goalies for a total of 21 players.
It appears that the #Leafs have assigned Timothy Liljegren to the minors to clear the cap space needed after claiming Adam Brooks off waivers.
Brooks is currently on IR and so the Leafs now have only 18 skaters on the active roster (12F – 6D) after assigning Liljegren. https://t.co/OPrBFpGkKK
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 16, 2022
It is also mentioned in the comments that the Leafs cannot send Brooks to the AHL after claiming him despite putting him on waivers earlier in the season. That rule is only for the team that the player was most recently on, so Montreal. Good to remember for the future when we get Ritchie or Nikita Soshnikov on waivers next February. It seemed pretty clear that Brooks couldn’t go to the Marlies because then he would’ve automatically gone there and they wouldn’t have had to paper Liljegren down.
Adam Brooks would need to clear waivers before being eligible to be assigned to the AHL, so he’s part of the #leafs NHL roster.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 16, 2022
The clock now ticks on Nick Ritchie can be traded. If it’s before the Penguins game, Liljegren will most likely play. If not, then Travis Dermott will get in the lineup.
Bonus points for someone in the comments who can find me an NHL trade that happened in the morning. All GMs sleep in until noon, I swear.