The Toronto Maple Leafs are set with the roster they will take into the 2021 NHL Season.
At this point, we are still not certain when the Toronto Maple Leafs will play next, but we are certain about one thing: they will not be trading William Nylander or acquiring P.K Subban.
There are rumours and then there are oh-my-god-will-you-please-give-it-a-rest-that-is-never-happening-and-it-is-ridiculous-to-even-suggest-it-to-the-point-where-it-is-annoying-type-rumours.
You can be your buns that these two rumours fall into the latter category.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Rumours
Now, I like a a trade rumour as much as the next guy, but when its the same players, over and over, and when there is a zero-percent chance of the trade happening, they aren’t really fun, they’re just dumb.
A trade rumour is a little like investigating a crime – you need means, motive and opportunity.
The NHL is currently in a great state of upheaval, the season is partially in doubt (because America, the country where 24 NHL teams reside, completely stopped trying to even manage the pandemic so that they could work on ending democracy) and transactions have all but stopped.
So teams may not even have opportunity.
As for means, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have the means to trade Nylander, but what motive would they have? Nylander is coming off a 31 goal season where he led all NHL players in net-front goals (thus qualifying him, technically at least, as a power-forward, as weird as that sounds) and was a completely dominant player who put up some of the best transition stats, and some of the best on-ice stats in the NHL.
Nylander is a franchise-level player who is preposterously underrated for reasons no logical person who believes in evidence based analysis can understand. He isn’t getting traded because what would the motivation for trading him be?
He was one of the most value-laden contracts in the NHL (he’s dirt cheap, basically), and he is a versatile player who can play all three forward positions. He hasn’t peaked, and the team has no weaknesses that it would make sense to trade him to address. The Leafs added T.J Brodie, giving them an excellent top four, and they’ve got absolutely no salary issues. They may in fact be the NHL’s deepest team.
No motive.
As for Subban – why do the Leafs want to the Leafs want with a declining player who is expensive? Subban would need to make one of the best comebacks in NHL history just to be equal what Justin Holl can bring. He is 31, long past the age when players improve.
In a fair training camp where the six best players make the team and reputation and star power have no effect on the outcome, it’s debatable if P.K Subban could even make the Leafs. Brodie and Holl were both way, way better last season, and I highly doubt he’s better than Mikko Lehtonen at this point.
So that’s a hard pass on P.K, even though sentimentally, I am a huge fan. Subban is a great player and if character and leadership matter even 1% as much as hockey culture says they do, he might be worth adding as a depth player at a reduced salary. But he’s paid to be a star and he isn’t anymore. The Toronto Maple Leafs do not have the means, motive or opportunity to make this trade.
To be honest, I don’t think the Leafs would even claim him on waivers, let alone trade for him. And Nylander? Don’t make me laugh. Two rumours that have no chance of happening. In fact, I’m so certain that the Leafs haven’t even considered either move that I think the term “rumour” is being a little too loosely applied.