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Maple Leafs keep Tyson Barrie, re-sign Jake Muzzin

Maple Leafs

Trade deadline day isn’t just about the trades that get made. Sometimes the trades that do not get made can just as intriguing and get as much attention. That takes us to Toronto where the pressure is mounting and the walls are seemingly closing in on the Maple Leafs as they fight just to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the days leading up to the trade deadline speculation and rumors were circling around defenseman Tyson Barrie and whether or not the Maple Leafs would move him on Monday. But when all was said and done after the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, Barrie remained with the Maple Leafs on what was a mostly quiet day for the team.

The biggest move they made on Monday was officially re-signing veteran defenseman Jake Muzzin to a four-year, $22.5 million contract extension that will run through the end of the 2023-24 season.

Like Barrie, he would have been eligible for unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Barrie has been under intense scrutiny in Toronto all season after coming over from the Colorado Avalanche in the offseason blockbuster that sent Nazem Kadri the other way. He got off to a miserable start under former coach Mike Babcock, and even though his overall play has improved as the season has gone on he has still found himself in the crosshairs for criticism probably more often than he should be.

Even with his contract situation, trading him never seemed to be a realistic scenario that would improve the team in the short-term or long-term. For one, with Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci both out of the lineup due to injury the Maple Leafs would have needed to find another defenseman coming back the other way (or in a different trade). That would have been a lot of moving parts and shuffling of deck chairs for probably a minimal upgrade. If any upgrade at all.

As for Muzzin’s deal, he will be 32 years old next season when the contract begins and will pay him through his mid-30s. There is always a risk with that but it’s not an outrageous amount of money for a top-four defenseman that should still have a few good years left in him. With Barrie’s contract expiring after this season, Muzzin and Rielly are the only two defensemen on the roster with a salary cap hit over $2 million for next season. They also figure to get contributions from recent first-round picks Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren in the coming years. Both of them will be on entry-level contracts for the next two years after this season. So there is some flexibility there.

Prior to Monday the Maple Leafs acquired goalie Jack Campbell and forwards Kyle Clifford and Denis Malgin in pre-deadline trades.

MORE: PHT’s Trade deadline live blog

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.