We are inching closer and closer to the NHL trade deadline and we should be expecting General Managers to start pulling the trigger on trades, that includes Kyle Dubas of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The April 12th trade deadline is coming faster as the days go by during the 2021 NHL season and we should expect trades to get done somewhat soon, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It has been talked about for a while now that the Leafs are interested in adding by the deadline to help bolster this team’s lineup. Well, Elliotte Friedman just named-dropped some players around the league that the Maple Leafs have been rumoured to be in on.
The players that Friedman mentioned the Toronto Maple Leafs are rumoured to be in on aren’t your average NHL players, they are top-six forwards, and top four defensemen around the NHL.
Rumoured players the Toronto Maple Leafs Are Supposedly Interested In
On Tuesday night, Elliotte Friedman released his 31 Thoughts article and the fourth thought on that article is about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Friedman says, “After Thursday, Toronto has five games in 14 days. It would not be a stunner if Toronto tried to make their move during this time to minimize quarantine on any player coming from the USA. In the last week, Toronto has been rumoured to be in on half the league, from Mattias Ekholm to Filip Forsberg to Mikael Granlund to Eric Staal to Marc Staal.”
Three of the players Friedman listed are all from the same team in Nashville, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to me or to anyone if at least two of them are shopped out of Nashville due to how poor their season has gone and with the number of injuries, that team has gone through.
Both Staal brothers are also on teams that are currently on the outside looking in and won’t be making the playoffs this year so a trade away from their current teams is looking more and more likely for the two brothers.
The players they could likely acquire
Out of all the players that Elliotte Friedman talked about in his article, I would say there are about three to four guys that the Leafs could try and acquire and want to acquire to help improve this lineup even more.
The three Nashville players are more than likely to be all traded away from the Predators by or sometime before the deadline on April 12th, and I could realistically see the Leafs go out and try their best to acquire one of them.
Filip Forsberg and Mikael Granlund can easily slot into the top-six in Toronto and play alongside Tavares and Nylander or even Matthews and Marner if Keefe decides to slide Thornton down the lineup.
Mattias Ekholm is an interesting name to me because he strikes me as a similar guy as Jake Muzzin, so it would cost a decent price to acquire a player like Ekholm. He can easily play in any team’s top four and brings a lot to his game that can help your team win.
The last player Friedman mentioned that I could see them likely acquire is Eric Staal from the Buffalo Sabres. Staal has one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $3.25M which is more than affordable for a team, especially if Buffalo retains half of it.
I just don’t see a purpose of bringing in Marc Staal to Toronto, so I don’t see them being serious about acquiring him if there are other guys available, but you never know what will happen.
Maple Leafs that could get dealt
Now obviously if you’re trading for players with the type of calibre that Filip Forsberg, Mikael Granlund, Mattias Ekholm, and Eric Staal all have, you are giving up a roster player more than likely due to the money coming in, followed by potentially picks and prospects.
So if the Maple Leafs do go ahead and pull the trigger on a trade for one or two of these players, the Leafs that I could see getting dealt could include Alex Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall, and Jimmy Vesey.
Then of course you have your picks and prospects and while it’s hard to know how far the Leafs would be willing to go in this direction, if they are in fact “all-in” then no one would be off the table.