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Toronto Maple Leafs Hypothetical Trade: Edmonton Oilers

By Stephen Nixon |
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 06: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers passes the puck back to the slot against Frederik Andersen #31 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 6, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Oilers defeated the Maple Leafs 6-4. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 06: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers passes the puck back to the slot against Frederik Andersen #31 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 6, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Oilers defeated the Maple Leafs 6-4. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs may look to make a deal with a team in the Western Conference this off-season.

The Edmonton Oilers are essentially the Toronto Maple Leafs of the West, except much worse. The Oilers’ similarities stop with their two superstars (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl). After that, their goaltending and defense is more inferior.

The Oilers got lucky by reaching the Second Round a few years ago, but besides that, the team has been a joke. In McDavid’s first five seasons in the NHL, the team has wasted every single one of them, as they’ve only made the playoffs once. That’s completely unacceptable. At least the Leafs have made the playoffs in three of the past four seasons with Auston Matthews.

Sure, both the Oilers and Leafs would have made the playoffs in a normal season this year, but they didn’t, so we can’t count this year. However, the Oilers truly need a change and this hypothetical trade might work.

The Trade:

  • Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and 2020 1st Round Pick
  • Edmonton Oilers acquire: 2020 7th Round Pick

Obviously, I’m kidding.

In all seriousness, the Oilers struggle with depth-scoring right now. Besides the two MVP candidates every year, the scoring drops off. McDavid and Draisaitl combined for 207 points this season, which is awesome. But, it would take the Oilers third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth highest scorers combined to beat those two. You can’t win relying on only two guys to score every night.

The Oilers also have had abysmal goaltending as of late, so here is a hypothetical trade that could actually benefit both teams:

Leafs Send Andersen and Depth Scoring To Edmonton

The Trade:

Who says no? The Oilers need a starting goaltender who can be relied upon and they need depth forwards. Kerfoot would be a huge step up for the third-line centre role, while Johnsson would be able to play alongside Draisaitl or McDavid and would probably score 30 goals.

By acquiring Nurse (who Kyle Dubas loves) the Leafs left-side of their defense would be stacked. Also the addition of Larsson would now legitimize the right-side and make the Leafs defense one of the best in the NHL.

Moving on from Andersen is tough here, but the team would be saving a few bucks through this trade, which they use to sign a Free Agent goalie and depth third-line centre. This is a wild trade and one that would shake up the hockey world.

Next. 5 Free Agents Leafs Should NOT Sign. dark

It’s probably too good to be true, but that’s what we do here. It’s all for fun and discussion and I kind of want to see this happen.

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