The trade deadline is two weeks away. For the last two weeks, my head has been in the Olympic sand. What do you mean we have to play Tampa Bay and Florida next week? There’s an argument to buy, and an argument to sell. What about doing a bit of both?
I was surprised when the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make any major moves in the offseason to fill the Mitch Marner-sized hole left in the roster. With the deadline looming, I change my mind every day on whether I think we should shop for depth or go for a desperate last attempt at the playoffs.
If we crush our must-wins next week, we could push for the playoffs. Even if we don’t make it to the post-season this year, I don’t think we should spend the next few years fully rebuilding. On paper, there’s no reason we can’t get to the post-season in 2027. I don’t think we should be spending Matthews’ and Nylander’s contracts on rebuilding years. What a waste that would be.
We’re nearly out of near-future picks. We only have three picks in 2026, and our best is a round three. My eye is still twitching at the first-rounder that left with Minten (I’m going to try my best not to rant about this trade here).
If we’re selling amazing assets like Bobby McMann (who I personally would like us to hold on to), I want near-future picks we can start to use by 2029/30. We can use some of our plentiful 2028 and 2029 picks as bargaining chips.
The trade deadline is two weeks away. Here are the players I am preparing to say goodbye to and what I’m hoping for in return. Either for our must-wins in March, or for a better run in 26/27.
Players I don’t want to see gone, but I wouldn’t be surprised about:
Bobby McMann
Before the Olympic break, the rumour mill had already begun to rumble about Bobby McMann, specifically for his hometown Oilers making a bid for the winger. I have major recency bias when it comes to my teams; I don’t want to sell McMann. But I understand that his 32 points in 56 games, with a cap hit of $1.35M, is a steal. I would prefer to see a McMann extension before he hits free agency. Extending McMann is a better long-term goal, especially since the guy seems to want to be here.
The Oilers are looking for scoring depth to help out their stars at the deadline, so McMann would be great for them, but he’s great for us, too. The Oilers have plenty of picks for 2026 and 2027 to trade away, and some talent that could be interesting. Left-wing Isaac Howard was sent back down to the AHL at the end of January, but logged 28 games with the Oilers and is on the first year of this contract. His cap hit is larger than Easton Cowan’s at $950k, but he’s only logged 5 points in 28 games with the Oilers.
Personally, I think part of holding on to hope for the Matthews era includes keeping McMann. However, I am nervous about being able to afford to extend him.
Anthony Stolarz
Stolarz is a fantastic goalie, and we just extended him. We also have three great goalies at our disposal right now. I feel like we’ve had him for too long for how much we haven’t seen him. Obviously, if I’m buying, this worries me. I also assume his current injury record would lower his value this year. It would be hard to watch if we trade him and watch him crush a starting position next year.
His contract extension hasn’t even begun yet, so I would personally hold onto him at least until the 2027 deadline. We currently have three great goalies when they aren’t injured, and Dennis Hildeby has proven that he deserves an NHL position.
Players I’m happy to sell
Calle Jarnkrok
Jarnkrok hits free agency this summer, has seven points in 37 games, and a +/- of -8. Need I say more? I do wonder if the denied rumour in December that he was planning to leave the NHL to play for the Swedish league next season makes him a less desirable player for us to sell to a new team.
Morgan Rielly
I’ve ranted about Morgan Rielly before; I think he’s too comfortable, and I hate questioning if he’s fighting during every game. It would be cruel to trade him away for picks, but San Jose has first-round picks in both 2027 and 2028.
Nic Roy
Ethan said it best. He has a valuable contract, and the Leafs would benefit from using him in a Scott Laugton-esque trade.
Buying on the blueline?
Maybe I’m just riding the high from two weeks of Olympic hockey, but the little West Coast win streak we had going into the break gave the fans some hope. If next week goes well, we could potentially make it to the post-season with some fresh-to-us faces.
Arber Xhekaj
We need some more physical defence. There’s a universe where Xhekaj is our man. His points and hit stats are similar to Benoit’s this season, although I’m not sure the Leafs’ penalty kill could handle Xhekaj’s 104 penalty minutes this season. Where I raise my eyebrow is that Xhekaj’s free agency this summer will change his currently manageable salary. I also don’t think management wants another high-penalty, low-scoring defenceman, and we all know a Montreal trade is next to impossible…
Dougie Hamilton
We currently do not have the cap space for the 32-year-old defenseman, so we’d have to do some major selling to get him, even if the New Jersey Devils retain some of that $9M hit. He has not been a high-scoring defenceman these last few years (he has the same amount of goals this season as Rielly), but he has 52 hits to Rielly’s 21. If Chris Tanev remains out for the season, we need someone like Hamilton for this final push.
Home-grown defence
Our 2024 pick Ben Danford should see an AHL season next year, as he had a good showing in the preseason this year, with Berube calling his first showing “pretty much mistake-free.” I would love to see him as a star home-grown defenseman on the Leafs in 27/28, especially if we manage to trade Rielly.
No matter what…
We probably won’t have a clear picture of what way Treliving will go on March 6 until after the Battle of Ontario at the end of the month. Either way, major changes will be coming to the Maple Leafs’ roster at the deadline.
Don’t need another old slow injury prone defensive liability like Hamilton in his current form.