Toronto Maple Leafs acquire Roman Polak in trade with St. Louis Blues

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired defenseman Roman Polak from the St. Louis Blues in a trade on Saturday. The Blue got defensemen Carl Gunnarsson and the 94th pick in this year’s NHL draft in the trade.

Polak and Gunnarsson both have two years left on their contracts. The trade is good for the Maple Leafs as they will save some money. Gunnarsson had a $3.15 million cap hit over the next two seasons, and Polak had a $2.75 million cap hit, according to CBS Sports. In addition to saving some money, the Maple Leafs will retain $200,000 in salary, according to ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun.

The Maple Leafs will have a bigger defenseman in Polak. In 72 games he has 13 points and a plus-3 rating.

Gunnarsson has played with the Maple Leafs for his entire career. He will join a Blues defense corps that includes Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk. In 80 games last season he 17 points and a plus-12 rating, according to NHL.com. In 304 careers games Gunnarsson has 86 points.

It will be interesting to see how this trade works out and who the Blues pick with the 94th overall pick.