"A curveball": Sandin discusses emotional trade away from Leafs

Of all the decisions Kyle Dubas made in his five-year tenure as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, few were more surprising than the trade of Rasmus Sandin.

On February 28, Sandin was dealt to the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenceman Erik Gustafsson and a first-round pick in the 2023 draft.

It was a shocking trade for many Leafs fans, with Toronto seemingly giving up on the 23-year-old defenceman just 140 games into his NHL career.

Sandin, the team’s 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, had spent parts of four seasons in Toronto. Signing a two-year, $1.4 million contract prior to last season, Sandin seemed like he was on the path to being a consistent member of the Leafs’ defensive group for years to come.

Sandin denied rumours of a trade request to The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke, a thought he seemed to reinforce on Monday’s episode of 32 Thoughts with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek.

“That was obviously a curveball when I got traded,” Sandin told the hosts. “Coming into it, I knew two guys really well. One of them was Erik Gustafsson who got traded for me and the second guy was Marcus Johansson who got traded who got traded like five minutes before I did. I was like, who am I going to know on the team?”

While Sandin was leaving behind a whole locker room of players in the only NHL organization he’d ever known, it was clear to anyone the sort of connection he had with Toronto forward and fellow Swede William Nylander.

After the team got news of the trade, Sportsnet’s cameras at Toronto practice caught Nylander and Sandin arm-in-arm walking down the hallways of the team’s facility.

Rasmus Sandin leaving the team. We love you sandy❤️ pic.twitter.com/WvQd6PeuHX

— paige (@paige_2246) February 28, 2023

“When we walked off, I think that was really cool and he was kind of saying, ‘Don’t cry yet, cameras are around,'” Sandin added.” He was telling me stuff like that… and just wished me the best. We still talk every single day.”

But Sandin said Nylander admits it’s still a little odd without one of his closest pals on the roster.

“He was like, man, it feels weird, like, going for dinner, and you’re not around,” Sandin said. “If I’d call him right now and tell him to stop what he’s doing. And if he could do something for me, he would do it. So if you’re in his inner circle, and people know him, he’s the best guy ever.”

As for his time in Toronto as a whole, Sandin seemed to embrace everything that came with playing in one of the NHL’s biggest markets.

“I mean, I really enjoyed my time in Toronto, I think it was fantastic,” Sandin said. “I mean, how, how much the fans care about the sport itself, the team, I mean, it’s, it’s awesome playing a Tuesday night in front of a packed arena every single night. So that was awesome. And you kind of learn to kind of block out the noise a little bit with time. When you have a bad game, if you go on Twitter or something, you’re gonna have notifications, but you get good at kind of blocking it out a little bit and focus on what’s right.”

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