No. 1: Top-Six Power Forward
Potential Fits:
- Nick Foligno
- Kyle Palmieri
- Mikael Granlund
- Eric Staal
- Rickard Rakell
- Jake DeBrusk
When it comes to acquiring a top-six forward, there seems to be a number of names available this year. From youngsters to veterans, the variety of players available for trade is wide-open.
This sentence isn’t new. Money and salary cap issues are going to be an issue with most of these forwards. The Leafs are up against the salary cap, so they’d have to get creative in order to secure a top-six forward into their roster.
Similar to the top-four defenseman discussion, whatever the price is, not withstanding a core-four player, you have to make the deal, if you think it improves the roster. The Leafs have brought tough guys into the organization in the past (Kyle Clifford), but they typically can’t score as well.
Having a forward who can fight, hit and score is hard to come by. As a result, when a team has that type of player, they usually keep them. In a perfect world, Tom Wilson would be the most perfect fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs because he checks all of those boxes, but we all know Washington isn’t giving him up anytime soon.
Although someone like Wilson isn’t available, the six forwards listed above would all fit the needs of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Some players have more feistiness than others, but they can all score and provide that extra depth that this team is missing.
Although the Leafs bottom-six has been scoring more than often recently, this team relies on the core-four. If they don’t score, they rarely win. As a result, they need one more goal-scorer to count on and get the team going when they’re slow.
All six of these forwards have the potential to do that and if the price is right, they’d all be at the top of the Leafs wish list, as they head into the NHL Trade Deadline.