It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to upgrade their team, as a trade could be in the works as early as this week.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the most points, most goals scored and have a stranglehold on the North Division. If this team did nothing between now and game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they’d still be able to compete for a championship.
However, as a professional sports team, you don’t get many opportunities like this.
Similar to a golfer on the PGA TOUR, you don’t typically hold the lead from the First Round to the Fourth Round. Usually, you find yourself in the hunt on Thursday and climb your way to the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
It’s rare that you’ll see a golfer go wire-to-wire and lead the tournament after every round. The Leafs are that golfer this year. They’re hoping that they can start the season off hot and ride that momentum until the middle of July.
We’ve seen many examples of teams get off to a hot lead and fall in the playoffs. Tampa Bay did this two years ago and as a result, learned from their mistakes. They traded high-end draft picks in the 2019-20 campaign to get tougher to play against, instead of staying flat. Ultimately, it led them to a Stanley Cup championship.
We’ve also seen teams who were the worst in the NHL midway through the year come back to life and lift Lord Stanley. Sometimes all it takes is a good rally-song and a team goes from worst to first. Just ask the St. Louis Blues about that.
So although the Leafs are in a great position right now, it’s not a time to be complacent. Instead, they could use new energy and another body or two to get them from great to perfection. However, before they acquire these players, they’re going to have to flip some of their own to get them.
As a result, here are the top four assets that are most likely to be traded.