Toronto Maple Leafs Hypothetical Trade: Superstar Swap

The Battle of Ontario is always fun between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators rivalry may not be as intense as it was 20 years ago, but it’s still relevant. From 2000-2004, the “Battle of Ontario” happened four times in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

We don’t have a ton to be proud of over the past 50 years as Leafs fans, but beating Ottawa in the playoffs is one of them. Over those four series, Toronto went 4-0.

It didn’t matter whether or not Ottawa looked in control of the series, the Leafs found a way to win every single time. Just like death and taxes, beating the Senators in the spring was a certainty in life for Leafs fans.

I know it may be hard to remember because it’s been 16 years since the Leafs actually won a playoff series, but there was a time where winning in the playoffs was commonplace, thanks to the Ottawa Senators.

From a trading perspective, the two franchises haven’t made a ton of deals together but they have made two big one’s recently. Even in the trade column, the Leafs have had the advantage over the Senators.

Not only was Toronto able to ship Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa but they also got rid of the awful long-term contract of Nikita Zaitsev in a deal with the Senators.

As we walk through this next hypothetical trade, maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs can fleece the Senators once again:

Toronto Could Land Brady Tkachuk

The trade:

• Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Brady Tkachuk ($925K)
• Ottawa Senators acquire: Mitch Marner ($10.893M)

Is this not a fun hockey trade or what?!

There are only a handful of teams in the NHL that can absorb $10 million to their salary cap and one of them is the Ottawa Senators. They have so much cap-room they don’t even know what to do with it.

In this wild trade, the Leafs would be clearing $10 million in cap-space, while acquiring a very talented winger to replace Marner.  Ottawa would be getting one of the most creative wingers in the NHL who’s contract they can afford for the next five seasons.

Tkachuk is set to become a Restricted Free Agent after the 2020-21 season and will get paid, but there’s no way he’s going to be making Marner money. With so much cap-space, the Leafs would be able to re-sign him if they wanted to, but they could also trade him again if they didn’t.

Clearing this much cap-space is crucial for the Leafs because they would be able to bring in a replaceable player, but someone with a different style. Tkachuk plays with an edge and the Leafs could use a player like him.

I’m sure Ottawa would want to keep Tkachuk forever and make him a cornerstone of their offense, but they’d probably also prefer Marner as he’s much more skillful and can create way more than Tkachuk.

Marner is a player the Senators can build around for the next decade, while Tkachuk is a good player but not a superstar like Mitch.

In my opinion, this trade would work so well for both teams and the flexibility it would give the Leafs for one season would be incredible.

Trading Marner isn’t something that Leafs management wants to do, but if you brought back an entry-level contract and a player like Tkachuk, it could be an interesting proposition.