Top 5 Toronto Maple Leafs Likely to be Traded This Off-Season

The Toronto Maple Leafs have five players most likely to be traded by the start of the 2020-21 season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs do not have a salary cap issue but by trading a few players, it would give them more flexibility during free agency and the future.

There’s no shortage of offense with this current Leafs roster.

Some of the Leafs that are third and fourth line players could easily be second-line or even first-line players on other team rosters in the NHL.

However, as everyone already knows, their defense could use some help.

Personally I think the teams defense is in a better spot than most when the 2020-21 season beings.

Mikko Lehtonen, Rasmus Sandin and potentially Timothy Liljegren are all new full-time options that could benefit the Leafs blue-line. However, all three are young and we can’t be completely convinced they’re ready for the NHL and will make a difference.

It’s quite possible that all three of those defenseman can crack the top-six and play well, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Therefore, if I was apart of the Leafs executive team, there is one Free Agent I would pursue and sacrifice trading a few players away to make room for him.

That players name is: Alex Pietrangelo.

If the Leafs were to acquire Pietrangelo, they would be a serious Stanley Cup contender and the top-three of Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Pietrangelo would be one of the best in the NHL. Pair those three with Sandin, Holl, Lehtonen and/or Lilejegren (Sorry Travis Dermott, we’re going to have to trade you now) and the Leafs defense looks awesome.

Let’s look at five players that are most likely to be traded in the off-season, hopefully making room for Pietrangelo.

#5. Zach Hyman

This one is very interesting.

Hyman is currently making $2.25 million per season and is wildly over-achieving on that contract.

A back-to-back 20 goal scorer, Hyman not only can find the back of the net, but can play on the Penalty Kill and is a great winger to either John Tavares or Auston Matthews every night.

Hyman is the type of player you want on your team and the fact that his contract is such a bargain makes him even more valuable.

He’s absolutely perfect on this Leafs roster when they have so much invested into William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Tavares and Matthews, but there are still cheaper options for the Leafs at wing.

Hyman is set to become a Free Agent after the 2020-21 season and at his current pace, you know he’s going to be asking for a huge raise, so it’s unsure whether or not the Leafs would be able to afford him anyways.

If Hyman isn’t willing to take a ‘home-town discount’ to stay with the Leafs long-term, it may make sense for the team to trade him and get an asset in return instead of letting him walk for free.

The Leafs have been known to hold onto players that are about to hit free agency as home-town rentals, but that was more of a Lou Lamoriello play when he didn’t trade players like: James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov.

Trading Hyman would cause some serious tension in Toronto, but if he can help bolster the defense, maybe it’s worth making the move.

#4. Travis Dermott

Dermott is set to become a Restricted Free Agent after this season and similar to Hyman, would be demanding a raise.

Although Dermott doesn’t have the point totals to back up a raise like Hyman, he does have leverage as a top-four defenseman on this team. With a depleted defensive core, the team would definitely like to re-sign him, but they still do have an abundance of left-handed shot defenseman.

Therefore, it may be in the best interest for the Leafs to trade Dermott for a right-handed defenseman to help even out the pairings.

Let’s go back to what I was talking about earlier with Alex Pietrangelo.

This years Free Agency period is going to be one of the weirdest in NHL history. Prior to Covid-19, the salary cap was expected to rise and free agents were looking for a big pay day.

However, now that the cap is staying flat and the uncertainty of teams receiving any gate revenue in 2020-21, the expectation is that player salaries are going to fall.

Therefore, a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs may have a better chance at Pietrangelo than they previously would have.

The Leafs would not be a in a bad situation if Dermott is still on the roster at the start of the 2020-21 season, but if they’re able to trade him for a right-handed defenseman or acquire someone like Pietrangelo in Free Agency instead, he’s an asset worth trading.

#3. Alex Kerfoot

Kerfoot is a player that has a bad reputation for really no reason.

When he was acquired in the Nazem Kadri deal, I think many of us were hoping that he would fill the role that Kadri played so well. However, he unfortunately wasn’t able to achieve the same point totals that Kadri would put up in a season and doesn’t have that same bite that he brings, especially in big moments.

When the Leafs acquired him, it came with a four-year, $3.5 million per season contract. so expectations were high.

Although his Corsi rating is above 50 percent, it only ranks him 10th among forwards who have played more than 10 games this season. This Leafs team is so strong offensively that Kerfoot should be controlling the puck more, no matter who he plays with.

With three years remaining on his contract at that $3.5 million cap-hit, I personally think you can find better and/or cheaper options for a third-line centre.

I would love to see William Nylander drop down as the third-line centre and be a beast with Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. Even the veteran Jason Spezza could fill the void for one season as third-line centre, despite his age.

Either way, although term can be really good, it’s not great on this current Leafs roster, so it would be beneficial to trade him.

Although term may not be great on this Leafs team, another team may find it very enticing if they’re looking to look down a decent centre at a cheap-ish price for a few years.

#2. Andreas Johnsson

Speaking of term, Johnsson has three years left at $3.4 million as a left-winger filled on a team that’s doing pretty good at that position.

Now that Nick Robertson is set to be a left-winger on this team for a long time, Johnsson’s days may be numbered.

By putting Robertson in the spot that Johnsson typically plays, the Leafs are going from $3.4 million to $850K. That type of savings would be huge for the team to either re-sign Ilya Mikheyev, Kyle Clifford and/or get another defenseman.

If it was up to me, I’d want Johnsson on my roster every day of the week. The former Calder Cup MVP winner has turned into a 20-goal scorer in the NHL and is a hard-working speedy winger you can count on.

However, although that contract isn’t huge for NHL standards, your third and fourth line guys are going to have to make peanuts on this Leafs roster in order to fit the Big-Four upfront.

Johnsson would be an easy trade chip if the Leafs wanted to move on from him and if you packaged him with Dermott or another player on this list, you could get a serious return that could put the Leafs Cup hopes over the edge.