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Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 Defenseman Team Could Trade For This Week

By Stephen Nixon

TORONTO, ON - MARCH 9: Paul Stastny #25 of the Winnipeg Jets is checked against the boards by Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during their game at Scotiabank Arena on March 9, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 9: Paul Stastny #25 of the Winnipeg Jets is checked against the boards by Justin Holl #3 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during their game at Scotiabank Arena on March 9, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 17: Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Nashville Predators (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

No. 1: Mattias Ekholm ($3.75M)

Ekholm currently has one year left on his contract after this year, so that could cause concern for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but at $3.75M per season, it’s a reasonable deal. The team doesn’t have a ton of cap-space next year, but if they decided to roll Jack Campbell out as their starting goaltender, it could free a ton of money up for upgrades elsewhere.

At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Ekholm is a big-body defenseman and a presence whenever he’s on the ice. Not only is he hard to play against, but he puts up great numbers offensively.

Acquiring proven NHL defenseman via trade is hard to do. The Toronto Maple Leafs were somehow able to steal Jake Muzzin away from the Kings for a reasonable price, but doing it twice could be tough.

As we’ve said multiple times throughout this article, Ekholm would be a perfect fit to Toronto’s defensive core. Not only would be a safety blanket to slide into the top-four if somewhere got injured, but he’d be an unbelievable No. 5 defenseman. He’d take the Leafs from having a very good defensive tandem to arguably the best in the NHL.

TSN had Ekholm at the top of their “Trade Bait Board” and it makes sense why. There’s not too many two-way defenseman that put up the points that he does and make less than $4M per season.

The Predators would be able to get a huge return for Ekholm’s services and it could help speed up their rebuilding process that’s started.

dark. Next. Latest Trade Rumor is Silly

The one good thing with Ekholm would be getting his services for two seasons, instead of one, so a big package to Nashville in exchange for him would probably be worth it. It’ll be interesting to see what the Leafs do over the next week, but don’t be shocked if one of these players is on the roster soon.

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