Timothy Liljegren
Why You Keep Him: Timothy Liljegren is the Leafs top prospect. He is a right handed defenseman with unlimited potential. He could potentially make the team this season, since the competition is so weak. If he does, he’s not tradable. If he can help the Leafs now, for the cost of an entry-level contract, then there is no way they can recoup that value in a trade. Maybe if he played a different position, but not with him playing the Toronto Maple Leafs weakest one.
Since you don’t know his potential, there’s also a big element of risk to moving him.
Why You Trade Him: The reasoning behind moving Liljegren is simple: moving him does not detract from the current roster, despite him being arguably the most valuable player that the team has that they would reasonably consider trading.
Now, if he’s NHL ready it’s a different story, but by almost all accounts he’s not ready. (Note: people with access tend to error on the side of caution, so he very well could be. He wouldn’t be the fist ‘no chance’ player to crack an NHL lineup.) If Liljegren is playing in the AHL, then, given the insane amount of factors converging which make this the year to go for it, the Leafs should definitely trade him.