It’s time to get excited because Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas told the media yesterday that he would prefer to make a trade right away.
Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs are first in the North Division, losing five of their last six games has put this fanbase into a frenzy. If you’ve followed this journey your entire life, it’s easy to get rattled anytime they go on a slide.
However, this season is different than most. As I previously mentioned, they’re first in the division. By the way, this team is never in first place. For the past few seasons that they’ve made the playoffs, they’ve been the No. 3 seed or Wild Card. Not only that, but this team still hasn’t won a playoff series since 2004, so there’s no need to panic.
As much as you want to stay cool, I can sympathize with fans who are getting anxious.
Even after having one of their greatest starts in team history, Toronto wants to shake things up. They have unbelievable offensive skill up front, three great defensemen and a No. 1 goalie, but they can always improve.
This team doesn’t need to do a full renovation, but they definitely need some gorilla glue to fix a few holes.
Toronto Maple Leafs Will Make a Trade Soon
As alluded to earlier, Kyle Dubas told the media that he’s going to make a trade now.
Within his press conference, he always mentioned that he’d like a top-six forward and what the Leafs would be willing to give up in a trade:
Kyle Dubas, asked if he's willing to trade a top prospect before this deadline: "Yes."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 16, 2021
This quote shouldn’t shock anyone. Whenever someone makes a mid-season trade, prospects and draft picks are usually going the other way. As a result, the Leafs would have to part ways with a top prospect in order to acquire an impact player.
The Leafs have been linked to the Nashville Predators lately, especially in regards to Mattias Ekholm, and Nashville already mentioned that they’d want a “first-round pick and two prospects” for the left-handed shooting defenseman.
Toronto hasn’t been shy when it comes to trading prospects in the past, so although Dubas says a “top prospect,” it doesn’t necessarily mean Nick Robertson, Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren is going to get traded. The Leafs have a great pool of young players that they could consider top prospects that the fanbase isn’t as aware of.
Filip Hallander, Mikhail Abramov, Joey Anderson, Nick Abruzzese, Mikko Kokonen, Roni Hirvonen, Topi Niemela and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev are just a handful of names that the Leafs organization could consider top prospects.
There’s more names that could be considered, but those are some of the highest prospects, not named Rodion Amriov, Nick Robertson, Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren.
Keep refreshing Twitter and checking this website daily, because the Leafs could end up making a trade any minute.