Before I start this blog post there are two things I would like to say.

First, my heart goes out to all the people of Ukraine with what is going on there. The Russian government is trying to invade and take over a country that was already an ally of them. It started back in 2014 when they took over Crimea and they have only wanted to take over more since even before then. The people of Ukraine do not deserve what the Russian Government is doing to them. There was no need to invade a peaceful country other than Putin wanting more power and just because he wants it. I know the Russian citizens also feel like this is unnecessary and I do feel bad for them as well. I think most of everyone in the world feels the same way and that is now, we are all Ukrainian.

Secondly, Maple Leafs prospect Rodion Amirov has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. There are more important things in life than sports and this news makes it more apparent. I wish Rodion nothing but the best as he is in Germany undergoing treatment. I hope he has a full and speedy recovery. Gold Star Sports Management group has set up the following email address, Amirov@goldstarhockey.com to send any and all well wishes or messages you wish to have sent to Rodion during this difficult time he is going through.

Now onto the post.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 33-14-4 in 51 games with 70 points. This means they will most likely start the playoffs on the road this season and likely have to play the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightning, yikes, or the Florida Panthers if they slip, another yikes. The NHL really needs to look to reassess this playoffs format, but that is a blog post for another day.

The Maple Leafs will have to address some issues with the current roster before the March 21 trade deadline. I have talked about some potential fits for the Maple Leafs on defense that they could potentially trade for, but this post is about something different. This post is about a potential addition to their roster that is a forward and would not cost the team any assets or current roster players to add. I am of course talking about the current Toronto Marlies player, and representative of Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Josh Ho-Sang.

Josh is currently on an AHL-only contract so that means he is able to sign with any team in the NHL at any time and not have to give the Maple Leafs any compensation and he would also not need to clear waivers to enter the NHL roster of the team that signs him. He has played a total of 27 games this season for the Toronto Marlies and has 11 goals, 9 assists, 20 points, 10 PIM, and a plus-minus of -1. In those games, he has 5 power-play goals, 3 Game-Winning Goals, a shooting percentage of 23.9% and he is also 2/2 on shootout attempts. Canada did not have a good Olympics by their standard by not playing for a Medal, but in 5 games Josh had 3 assists, 2 PIM, and was a +2. HE was also one of the fastest skaters on the ice throughout the tournament.

He is a tremendously fast skater that will and has drawn a lot of attention from the opposing defensive players freeing up his linemates for goals.

Coming into this season the talk about Josh was that he was an uncoachable hot-head that had a lot of maturing to do. These are allegations that he has admitted were true in the past but he does credit his time in Sweden in 2020-21 with his change of attitude. Apparently something had clicked with him and he decided to change the narrative about him. This was evident from day 1 in Toronto when he stated in training camp that he was willing to go down to the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL if needbe.

With the Marlies he has been a very teamfirst kind of guy. His teammates love him and that was apparent by the video they made for him when he went over to the Olympics for Canada. With him being on an AHL contract he would be fairly cheap to sign for the rest of the season but per NHL rules he would need to be signed by the trade deadline in order to play in the playoffs.

He is a right winger, and that position seems to be pretty full on the roster with Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Alexander Kerfoot, Ondrej Kase, David Kampf and Wayne Simmonds currently rotating in that position but I believe he would be a better fit on the left wing.

Josh could easily slide into a bottom 6 role on the curent lineup but a potential better fit would be on the left wing on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander. The speed and creative ability of Ho-Sang would be beneficial to that line. The grittiness of Tavares and the offensive ability of Nylander would be even better with a fast offensive minded Ho-Sang on the wing with them, and draw defenders to him and not the others as much. In the playoffs having a second line of these three could be very good and take a lot of pressure off the top line of Bunting, Matthews and Marner.

I have all the faith in the world that Kyle Dubas will do what he believes will benefit the Maple Leafs the most, but I am really hopeful that Josh Ho-Sang is wearing the Maple Leafs crest on his Blue and White sweater come late March.