Toronto Adds Andersen, Then Sign Him

To Toronto	Pos	Age	GP	G/W	P	Years	Cap
Frederik Andersen	G	26	43	22	51	0	RFA
----------------
To Anaheim	Pos	Age	GP	G/W	P	Years	Cap
2016 1st Round Draft Pick
2017 2nd Round Draft Pick

Well, this changes the last pick in the mock drafts, now doesn't it?

The Anaheim Ducks have acquired the 30th overall pick, Pittsburgh's 1st round pick, from the Toronto Maple Leafs, with Toronto's 2nd round pick next year for restricted free agent-to-be goalie Frederik Andersen, as the Leafs try to shore up their goaltending for the coming season.

Remarkably, in my mock draft, I had the Leafs taking Carter Hart, the goalie of the Everett Silvertips, so there was a need for a goalie in there somewhere, the Leafs just opted for a little more experience.

In Andersen, the Leafs will get a goalie who has been able to log some big minutes for the Ducks, but a goalie who has also benefited greatly from a stout defense in Anaheim, not unlike their current number one goalie, Jonathan Bernier, back in the days with the Kings, before getting dealt out east.  This move will undoubtedly give the Leafs some much needed depth at the position and it will likely set a guy like Garret Sparks back a few years, but if the move is to take Auston Matthews and run for the playoffs, they at least have some help on their last line of defense.

The Ducks, on the other hand, are now putting the ball firmly in John Gibson's court, as the plan was a year or two ago (or so we were to assume) and it will be his crease to start the 2017 season.  This will certainly increase his hockey pool value for the coming year, no doubt.

In return in the deal, the Ducks get two very good draft picks, in all likelihood, because anything in the 1st round will be decent and there are no guarantees that the Maple Leafs will turn this ship around completely in one Summer, so that 2nd round pick still has potential to be very good.

With that 30th pick, I could definitely see the Ducks going after another forward, if they choose to use it, possibly a young centre like Cliff Pu could be on their radar with that pick.

UPDATE: Not long after I had shut down the blog writing process down, the Maple Leafs went ahead and signed Andersen to a 5-year, $25 million deal, working out to a $5 million cap hit per season.

Already, the commitment has been made to Andersen to take over the number one job in Toronto, which will have a significant hit to Bernier's projections this Fall and this is truly something to keep an eye on through camp.