Would be Willing to Trade These Players
#25. Jimmy Vesey
#23. Mikhail Abramov
#22. Justin Holl
There were a handful of players who didn’t crack the top-25. Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton and Zach Bogosian are all veterans who just missed the cut and it’s only based on their contract and age. Why would a team risk any assets to acquire these veterans when they’re set to become a Free Agent next year?
Simmonds is an older player here, but has more value because of his age and his contract could be a steal. Formerly a $5M player, at $1.5M, the 32-year-old could get you more value in return right now.
Abramov is someone who could end up much lower on this list in the next few years but he’s still a raw prospect. He’s developing into a great goal-scorer, so he has a ton of potential but not as high as a few others in the organization.
Essentially if the Leafs traded any of these players tomorrow, no fan would cry. They would be fine with moving on from any of them and the return probably wouldn’t be more than a mid-round pick or prospect.