The NHL trade deadline brought Jake McCabe to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He and Blackhawks teammate Sam Lafferty were traded together in exchange for Toronto’s conditional first-round pick in 2025, Toronto’s second-round pick in 2026, Joey Anderson, and Pavel Gogolev.
Who Is Jake McCabe?
Jake McCabe was born on October 12th, 1993, in Eau Claire, WI. That makes him 29 years old. His parents are Mary and David McCabe. Also, Jake has one sibling, a brother named Andrew. His brother Andrew also played hockey in university.
Jake has a wife, Gabriela, and they share two children, a boy and a girl. Jake and his wife keep their family life as private as possible.
In The Beginning
McCabe played hockey in high school. In college, he played for the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA. Unfortunately, Jake suffered an injury in his first year playing with the Badgers. His season would be cut short to 26 games due to a severed tendon in his finger. In the year following, McCabe’s gameplay was outstanding, and therefore he was recognized with a selection to the 2013- 2014 All Big Ten First team.
Becoming Professional
McCabe began his NHL career by signing a contract with the Buffalo Sabres. He made his NHL debut on April 3rd, 2014, where he registered 16: 20 with the Sabres in a 2-1 loss against the St. Louis Blues. Jake would record his first NHL goal on October 15th, 2015, in a loss against the Florida Panthers. During the 2015- 2016 season, McCabe signed a three-year contract extension with the Sabres. In 2017, McCabe ended the regular season with career highs in assists and points. His 2017-2018 season was cut short when he endured a thumb and shoulder injury. When the 2019-2020 season began, McCabe was named alternate captain of the Sabres as the team was under new head coach Ralph Krueger. In his time with the Sabres, he accumulated 18 goals and 58 assists.
Jake became a free agent at the end of the 2020 season. Therefore, he left the Sabres and signed a 4- year $16 million deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 28th, 2021. In his two years which Chicago, he played 130 games with six goals and 36 assists.
In early 2023, heading toward the NHL trade deadline, the Chicago Blackhawks wanted a rebuild. In doing so, they made a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, bringing both McCabe and Lafferty to a hockey city they are excited to play in. Jake scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf on a road trip to play the Ottawa Senators on March 18th. That game was a battle and had to be determined by a shootout. Leafs walked away with a 5-4 win in Canada’s Capital. At the time this article was written, Jake has played twelve games with the Maple Leafs and had recorded one goal and one assist for two points.
It’s certainly no question that the Leafs have beefed up their blue line in the final stretch toward the playoffs with the addition of McCabe. Let’s sit back and see where it takes us.
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