The NHL Trade Deadline may be more than one month away but it’s possible the Toronto Maple Leafs strike a deal next week.
Elliotte Friedman mentioned on Sportsnet’s Wednesday night broadcast that the Leafs may be adding a player as early as next week. Since the team only plays two games from March 15-25, there’s a gap in the schedule that would beneficial for a trade with an American team.
As everyone’s most likely aware at this point, any American player entering Canada has to participate in a 14-day quarantine before joining the team. With teams playing sometimes as many as five games in seven days this season, there’s only a few spots in the schedule where a Canadian team can acquire an American club’s player and make sure he doesn’t miss a lot of action.
With limited practices this season, teams have been using games to find chemistry and work out their kinks more than any campaign before. As a result, any Canadian team making a trade needs to be strategic if they’re looking for a dance partner south of the boarder.
The Leafs are the best team in hockey, but it’s clear they want to add to their roster.
They still have Wayne Simmonds and Nick Robertson, who’ve yet to return from the minors or injury, but Kyle Dubas and company still want to make sure their depth is strong.
More injuries are bound to happen and when the playoffs hit, you need to be as deep as possible to win a Stanley Cup. This means that players like Pierre Engvall, Jimmy Vesey, Nic Petan, Alexander Barabanov and Travis Boyd are going to have to play their best hockey to stay in the lineup moving forward.
Even if the Leafs continue to win games, it feels like management isn’t going to be complacent with this roster. Sometimes you don’t want to fix something that’s not broken, but in this situation, if the Leafs can actually grab a top-six forward, it’s worth making the trade.
Here are four potential forwards the Leafs could trade for next week.