The NHL’s trade deadline is just over a month away and the Toronto Maple Leafs have yet to make any moves.
Last year, a month before the trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded two prospects and a first-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for Jake Muzzin.
This year will be a little different though. Toronto is without their 2020 first-round pick after trading it to the Carolina Hurricanes, along with Patrick Marleau last summer.
If they’re looking for a top-two defenceman, it’s not coming this year. And while some will say it’s still possible — it’s not.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a few players who they’d like to have traded by the deadline. Jeremy Bracco is likely considered the teams top trade chip.
With the depth that the Toronto Maple Leafs have on the right-wing, it’s made it tough for Bracco to get called up, let alone secure a spot on the team.
Bracco is however, the only player I’d trade on the Leafs.
A lot of talk is about the defense and how Kyle Dubas needs to trade for a number-one defenesman, but yet that shouldn’t be the case.
The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t need anymore defensemen, this year.
One of the most popular but unlikely trade targets for Dubas is said to be St. Louis Blues defenseman, Alex Pietrangelo.
I understand the move, but why him? Or why anybody?
The Toronto Maple Leafs could call up Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren in the coming weeks. That will mean, one or two defenseman have to go.
It’s going to be a difficult trade deadline for Dubas. The Leafs GM have to balance a complicated salary cap with the temptation to try and put his team over the top.
The Leafs could go for it, but they’ve built their team to be good for years, so they’ve got to balance out both sides of the equation.
If you have young players, keep them and they will learn and blossom under your system. If you trade for a defenseman at the trade deadline, you’re risking that they might not fit in right away, or for the rest of the season.
They should trade for no one, unless they can get a good return on Bracco. But with other Toronto Maple Leafs asking to be moved to have a chance in the NHL, it could be more than just the Toronto Marlies third best scorer on the team after all.