TORONTO --The Toronto Maple Leafs did not add to their roster prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday after trading for center Tomas Plekanec on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs (39-20-5, 83 points) are second in the Atlantic Division, four points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and one ahead of the third-place Boston Bruins. They have won four in a row, nine of their past 10 (9-1-0) and 13 of their past 15 (13-2-0) entering their game against the Lightning at Amalie Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SUN, SNO, NHL.TV).
"Chemistry is important, but way our team has been playing, we have confidence in our team," Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello said.
Forwards James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov can all be unrestricted free agents July 1 but with each playing important roles, Lamoriello said it did not make sense to consider trading them.
"I don't know if you had to take too long to weigh it," Lamoriello said. "What you look at where your team is, if you had the reverse you'd go out and get players like that and pay a price for it. It wasn't that difficult to make those decisions. There wasn't much time spent on it."
Though Lamoriello confirmed the Maple Leafs inquired about defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who was traded to the Lightning by the New York Rangers on Monday, the emergence of defenseman Travis Dermott since his recall from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Jan. 5 factored into the decision not to pay a premium.
"No question the development of Dermott has played a role in a lot of our thought process," Lamoriello said. "If we could have added someone who would have made us better and not subtracted, we certainly would have done that."
Dermott and forward Kasperi Kapanen were assigned to Toronto of the AHL and recalled so that they would be available for the AHL playoffs.
Plekanec and forward Kyle Baun were traded to the Maple Leafs by the Montreal Canadiens for forward Kerby Rychel, defenseman Rinat Valiev and a second-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft on Sunday.
"He's a player who has played against Toronto quite a bit and [Boston], which looks like the logical playoff opponent if everything stays as is," Lamoriello said of Plekanec. "He's had success in the role that he plays. He's a consummate professional. He'll really help our kids, no different than what Patrick Marleau, Ron Hainsey and Dominic Moore have done for us to show exactly what has to be done and how important it is to be a professional. We feel he's going to help us not only on the ice but off the ice." -- Dave McCarthy