Cade Webber was skating laps around Schneider Arena, focused solely on warming up for that evening’s game against Providence College, when his coaches summoned him to the Boston University bench.
The towering defenceman was miles away from his Boston home and professional hockey when he had his ‘Welcome to the NHL’ moment in Rhode Island.
His coaches pulled out their phones to show Webber a tweet: His NHL rights had been traded from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I was a little bit surprised but excited to be a part of an organization that obviously wants me,” Webber said.
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Webber quickly re-focused himself and showed in a 4-2 win over Providence why Leafs GM Brad Treliving flipped a 2026 sixth-round pick for the possibility of signing him. The 6-foot-7, no-nonsense defenceman blocked an astounding seven shots, was thrown over the boards against Providence’s best players and logged heavy minutes as BU’s most dependable penalty killer.
His best traits might see him become part of the Leafs soon enough.
“That’s what the NHL game is now: Ending plays quickly and getting going the other way,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said of what gives Webber a chance to play in the NHL. “You look at Vegas last year, playing for the Stanley Cup and you look at their defence core, I don’t know if there was one under 6-foot-2. They were long and they closed plays.”
The acquisition of Webber, 23, adds to the possibility the Leafs blue line undergoes a full-scale overhaul this offseason. TJ Brodie, Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin are all unrestricted free agents and 29 or older. Timothy Liljegren and Simon Benoit are both RFA and despite both of them improvings, neither appear like long-term locks. The two Leafs blue liners locked up for next season, Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe, are both 30.
Trading for Webber feels like one of the first steps toward transitioning to a more youthful back end. And after the 2019 Hurricanes fourth-round pick did not sign with Carolina, Webber has every intention of aiding that transition.
“That’s the plan,” Webber said when asked if he wants to sign with the Leafs. “I want to get up there, compete, and be part of what’s happening there for the next few years.”
When Albert O’Connell first saw Webber playing prep hockey at the Rivers School in Webber’s hometown of Meadville, PA, the former Boston University head coach saw potential.
“We knew (Webber’s) best hockey was going to be as he got older,” O’Connell said. “He was still growing.”
Beyond the muscle O’Connell knew it would take years to add, there was also the matter of who Webber was going to be on the ice. Webber will be the first to tell you that in his draft year, he was convinced putting up points really mattered. And so he leaned into the offensive side of his game en route to leading all defencemen on his prep school team in points.
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That’s how I’ll make it to the NHL, he thought.
But two assists and no goals through 14 games in his first season at BU led him to a realization: His skill with the puck might have been top of the heap at his prep school, but there were players far ahead of him offensively at the college level. What Webber did have, however, was the kind of size, reach and physical prowess so few defencemen at his level had. Those attributes were valued in professional hockey.
After Webber’s sophom*ore season, Boston University hired Pandolfo. Some of the first conversations Pandolfo, the former NHL forward with 899 regular-season games and two Stanley Cups to his name, had once arriving in Boston were with Webber.
It was time for Webber’s game to evolve.
“We talked about what was going to give me the best chance to get me to the next level,” Webber said.
Pandolfo’s goal was clear: Focus more on changing the game in his own zone as a meat-and-potatoes defenceman.
“That’s what he’s going to be as a player moving forward,” Pandolfo said. “Because of his length, his ability to block shots, ability to defend hard and end plays, all those things in his game.”
That summer, Webber stayed in Boston for the first time. He logged time with assistant coach Kim Brandvold, who spent seven seasons with the Boston Bruins as a skating consultant and skills and development coach. Together, they focused on Webber learning to close his gaps better, introducing physicality to his game and, as he puts it, “Using my strengths as an advantage.”
Off the ice, he began reviewing tape of a player he grew up watching: Former Pittsburgh Penguins, now Seattle Kraken, defenceman Brian Dumoulin.
“(Dumoulin) was a huge part of their back-to-back Stanley Cups. They needed someone back there to be steady just in case something happened. He made good reads and was an efficient skater,” Webber said.
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This season, his senior year, Webber’s defence-first game has taken off. He’s defending more at the blue line instead of the hash marks as in previous seasons. His most notable improvements have come in his ability to close quickly, end plays with more pace and then just as swiftly move the puck in transition.
A few clips thrown together of new leaf acquisition Cade Webber.
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Listed at 6'7 220lbs he is a blueprint Brad Treliving defence man.
A few things i noticed from him;
-Blocks a ton of shots pic.twitter.com/1NDH3bK0vu— Cam (@LeafsRealist) March 8, 2024
Come penalty kills, Pandolfo will sometimes throw Webber out for 1:45 of the kill. Pandolfo said Webber is leading the NCAA in blocked shots, too. Add in a hard first pass, another focus of his improvement, and Webber understands what his ticket to Toronto looks like.
“I want to be the guy to shut down good players,” Webber said. “Make life miserable on them.”
His days of pining for offence are long past him. Webber was recently named Hockey East’s Best Defensive Defenseman.
Throughout Treliving’s first season at the helm, he’s made it clear he likes his defenceman to have reach and he likes a lot of them. While the 6-foot-4 Noah Chadwick was signed to an entry-level contract just months after being selected in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, the Leafs still lack rangy defence prospects. Topi Niemela remains the best defenceman in the Leafs system and has added an edgy side to his game this season with the Marlies, but remains 6-foot and needs to add more muscle. Marshall Rifai had a surprise cup of coffee in the NHL this season and has the elite skating to stand out, but he also doesn’t fit the bill as a defenceman built like a Douglas Fir tree.
Adding Webber ticks a box. And for that reason, he could look to earn a spot out of training camp this fall.
“The goal is to go straight to the NHL,” Webber said confidently on where he sees himself next season. “But whatever (the Leafs) think is best for me and whatever the best fit is going to give me the best chance to get to that level.”
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Questions remain about what the Leafs’ blue line will look like next season. With a stellar training camp, perhaps Webber fills a need as a bottom-pair defender ready to tackle the unglamorous assignments. It’s also possible Treliving loads up with more young blueliners via trade and free agency. Perhaps Webber eats heavy minutes in the AHL and is then called up when his confidence is high. O’Connell, a former Montreal Canadiens scout, notes how two defencemen have recently gone straight from the Hockey East conference to the Canadiens: Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble.
“For defencemen, it always helps to spend a bit of time in the minors,” Pandolfo said when asked about Webber’s NHL prospects. “It just depends on how (Webber) does in a training camp. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him make a team because of the way he defends and kills penalties. But you’re exposed a lot more as a defenceman in the NHL compared to you are as a forward.”
To get to the NHL, Webber will have to improve his skating and his puck play, the most glaring hole in his game. A summer with the Leafs development staff after signing an ELC could help.
But that Treliving traded for Webber means there is interest in seeing him progress. And that makes sense; every effort Webber has made for the past two seasons is not just to win a national championship at Boston University but to play professional hockey.
It might not be long before Webber gets that chance in Toronto.
“I’m humbled (the Leafs) traded for me,” Webber said. “I’m excited to be part of an organization that has historic track record and is on the edge of a Stanley Cup.”
(Photo: Danielle Parhizkaran / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
