Which Toronto Maple Leafs Players are Tradable and Which Are Untouchable?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of valuable pieces to move
The Toronto Maple Leafs will likely be moving a couple of players in the upcoming offseason as they prepare to deal with many impending free agents in the coming years such as Ilya Mikheyev, Frederik Andersen, and Zach Hyman to name a few.
With hockey currently being on pause, this gives the Maple Leafs management a ton of time to reassess their future, and determine which players they can see being integral pieces to their core.
With this comes the unfortunate conversation of which players are expendable, and are likely to be moved in the event of a trade.
In most cases, Kyle Dubas has actually done a pretty solid job with a lot of the trades he has made, and has not really been apart of a completely lopsided deal thus far.
Due to his trade history, it’s important to remember that when looking at the list of tradable players who fans may be attached to, it’s still very likely that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be getting a solid return in almost every deal they make.
As time progresses, these lists could drastically change based on immediate improvements. The Leafs have found themselves in a window there needs to be improvements to their playoff success as early as this season (depending on how the NHL handles the remainder of the year) before we may see some extreme changes to the core of this group.
The Untouchables
Starting with the obvious, here are the players on the current Toronto Maple Leafs Roster who I cannot see Kyle Dubas parting ways with at any point in the near future.
- Auston Matthews
- Mitch Marner
- John Tavares
- Zach Hyman
- Ilya Mikheyev
- Rasmus Sandin
- Justin Holl
- Jake Muzzin
- Pierre Engvall
- Morgan Rielly
The names should speak for themselves when you ask why most of these guys are untouchable. Marner and Tavares are signed for extended periods of time, and having any thought about trading Auston Matthews just sounds dumber as I say it over in my head.
As for players such as Zach Hyman, Justin Holl and Jake Muzzin, while they are so valuable to this Maple Leafs team in their own ways, the reason they are considered among the other names in this category is because they are on good contracts and do not have enough individual value that would result in a worthy return.
Morgan Rielly has been the backbone of the Leafs defensive core for quite some time, and while his next contract negotiation could be difficult in regards to cap space, I cannot see Kyle Dubas actively shopping their best defensemen.
As for the rookies, Rasmus Sandin will likely be our biggest defensive prospect in the near future, while Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev made some strong impressions on Leafs management this season, which will likely earn Mikheyev a nice extension this summer.
These 9 players are a very solid group to build around, but this still leaves an exceptional number of players unprotected for various individual reasons.
The Expendables
Unfortunately, this cast of characters isn’t filled with as many stars as the 2010 action film The Expendables , but their value to the Toronto Maple Leafs is worthy of some discussion as to why they are possible trade pieces, or will just not be apart of the team moving forward.
- William Nylander
- Morgan Rielly
- Kasperi Kapanen
- Tyson Barrie
- Andreas Johnsson
- Alex Kerfoot
- Travis Dermott
- Cody Ceci
- Frederik Andersen
- Jack Campbell
Starting with what should be more obvious names, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson have been apart of every Leafs fans fantasy trade package for their random saviour of a right-handed defensemen.
While I believe Kapanen made a pretty good case for himself this season to become a big part of the team, it’s hard to argue many other forward pieces to be as easily moveable than these two.
With the recent signing of KHL star Mikko Lehtonen, the future of a number of Leafs defensemen have been put into question.
Cody Ceci had a pretty eye-opening year in terms of how his career will be trending, and I can imagine the Leafs will be looking to spend their $4.5 million in other places. Similarly for Tyson Barrie, with a significant drop in points this season, and the likelihood of him asking for more money, the Leafs will probably not be re-signing Barrie.
As for Travis Dermott, I’m sure fans and management expected a larger jump in maturity to his game this season, especially with the amount of injuries on the defensive end opening multiple opportunities for him to excel.
Dermott showed some early signs in his career of potentially being a strong offensive defensemen, but as the crop of offensively minded players in this organization continues to grow, Kyle Dubas will likely have to flip the valuable players who aren’t seen as making as much of an immediate impact.
When William Nylander inked a six year deal last season, I originally had my doubts as to whether or not he would pan out to be the player Dubas measured him to be, and it’s safe to say that I was proved wrong this season.
Although he has performed at an elite level this season, I still do not consider him completely immovable. If the offensive consistency does not hold, there may be some exterior pressure to make a trade to clear salary.
Looking at one of the more controversial names on this list, Frederik Andersen has been pretty underpaid for the majority of his career, and when it comes time to re-sign him next season, the Maple Leafs are going to have to evaluate whether or not he is a goaltender you can take your team to the next level with.
That being said, Freddy has been phenomenal for majority of the time he’s spent here, especially with the defensive core he has played behind.
While I would love to see him stay because of how good he his, and also considering how hard it will be to attract an elite goaltender to Toronto, Andersen is not completely immovable.
What Does Signing Mikko Lehtonen Mean for Tyson Barrie?. dark. Next
Unfortunately, a good amount of the tradable players on the Toronto Maple Leafs still have a good amount of talent. This will make Kyle Dubas’ job even more difficult moving forward, as some pivotal decisions for the future of this team will have to be made soon enough.