Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Trade Deadline Targets And Needs

The Toronto Maple Leafs will need to address their needs before the trade deadline.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently somewhat freefalling from their explosive start to the season, losing 6 of their last 8 games. Previous to this bad run, the Toronto Maple Leafs sat lonely atop of their divison

Despite still leading the all Canadian North Division, their comfortable lead has disappeared like they often lost leads during the 2016 – 2017 season under Mike Babcock. No reason for panic just yet, but worrisome nonetheless.

The Leafs hold on a playoff spot is still comfortable at 7 points, nevertheless, the first spot would give the Toronto Maple Leafs home-ice advantage in the playoffs, a luxury, even with the empty arena’s.

If a silver lining needs to be found in recent results, it’s that their freefall comes at an opportune moment considering there’s plenty of time left before the trade deadline and if recent play has shown anything, it’s where the weaknesses of this team lie.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and potential trade deadline targets

Perhaps for the first time ever, the Toronto Maple Leafs won’t be in the market to strengthen the blue-line at the trade deadline, surely a one-liner Toronto media will miss this season. Heck, Dubas, evidently, feels so comfortable about his blue-line he traded Miko Lehtonen in return for a goaltender prospect.

That doesn’t mean Dubas won’t act if an opportunity for the blue-line comes to pass, but from the looks of it, the Toronto Maple Leafs needs likely are offensively and in the net.

With that in mind, we asked our writing staff the following question for this edition of the Editor in Leaf Roundtable; “What should be Dubas top priority at the trade deadline?”

The staff came up with some hot takes, so let’s find them out!

My Take

For a change of spice this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs biggest needs lie in their top-six forward group. To be more specific, a left-winger for the Tavares line. The Tavares line has been unreliable throughout most of the season, while Nylander has put up good statistics, Tavares seems out of tune.

Starting out with Vesy, who was placed on waivers earlier this week, Sheldon Keefe has tried multiple players on the left-wing, but none seemed to find the right chemistry with Tavares and Nylander. A trade acquisition, all be it the right one, could provide the much-needed spark for the Tavares and Nylander line.

Faced with a unique opportunity when it comes to the playoffs this season, due to the changed alignment of the Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs are rid of the curse of facing arguably the two best teams in the NHL in the first two rounds in Boston and Tampa Bay.

Within that advantage also lies the conundrum for Kyle Dubas approaching this year’s trade deadline; “how good are the Toronto Maple Leafs actually?”

Surely this question has been pondered upon by Dubas, while the potential on paper and in games against the Canadian teams has been seen, it hasn’t been tested against the stronger teams in the other divisions. Dubas seemed to have no doubt about it, stating he would be willing to involve a top prospect in any potential deal.

But for that to happen, the potential piece added would need to be more than just a rental just for the remainder of the season. Considering the standings in the Divisions, there will be teams that are not ready to enter towards the deadline as sellers just yet. Which makes it difficult to identify potential trade partners and targets.

To complicate matters, even more, potential sellers at the trade deadline from the other Divisions become less suitable as the trade deadline closes in due to the travel restrictions and obligated quarantine for players travelling to Canada.

For this reason, the Toronto Maple Leafs can turn towards the Ottowa Senators for left-winger Ryan Dzingel.

Dzingel could bring extra scoring depth and skill to the Tavares line and could flourish from playing on a line with both Nylander and Tavares. Because of his expiring contract, the price for Dzingel wouldn’t cost Dubas a top prospect, but rather draft-picks for the 2021 or 2022 NHL entry draft.

Michael Da Ponte

Kyle Dubas, the last two seasons, had pulled the trigger on a trade weeks before the trade deadline and I expect that to be the case this year.

Last year it was Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford brought in three weeks before the deadline. The year before Dubas traded for Jake Muzzin a month in advance of the trade deadline to make sure that Muzzin had a few extra weeks to get acclimated to Toronto and their system.

This year more than any other year it is imperative for Dubas to act well ahead of the trade deadline. I believe the priority for Dubas is to execute a trade at least three weeks ahead of the deadline. The trade deadline is April 12, which is less than four weeks away from now so I expect a trade to be done any day now. With Canada currently requiring any travelers coming into Canada to quarantine for 14 days, the longer Dubas waits the fewer games a potential trade acquisition would have to play with the Maple Leafs.

For example, if Dubas is not able to make a trade until the April 12 deadline that would mean the player wouldn’t be able to even practice with the team until April 27th and likely wouldn’t play until he got in at least a couple of practices.

The regular season ends 11 days later on May 8 and in that span, the Toronto Maple Leafs only have 5 or 6 games that their new acquisition could play in before playoffs start. In my opinion, a trade like that would not be worth the cost and could end up being a waste if the player is not able to be effective.

Whether it is a top 6 forward, a bottom pairing d-man or some depth goaltending, the most important thing for Kyle Dubas is to get that player here well ahead of the trade deadline. I know that there are salary cap implications but the management team needs to find a way to make it work.

Otherwise, there may be no point in making a move at all.

Philip van Riesen

The trade deadline is fast approaching and the Leafs have a better opportunity than ever before to make it far in the playoffs without the likes of Tampa and Boston in the same division as them.

Dubas and management have an opportunity to make a move that could really move the needle.

As has been made clear from the wear and tear of the season, Joe Thornton playing in the top-6 has become a less than ideal scenario given his age and current ability slowing him down. Adding another quality player to the forward core has the potential to have a forward group that is as good as any in the league.

With the loss from the forward depth the Leafs had in previous seasons with the likes of Kadri, Johnsson, and Kapanen all out the door, the Leafs forward depth is no longer one of the team’s strengths.

Adding a quality player who can play in the top-6 or even as the third-line centre in Mikael Granlund could change the whole complexity of the Leafs forward group for the better.

Granlund is a highly skilled player who thrives at breaking into the zone and creating quality chances for teammates. Whether Granlund is helping to create opportunities on the Tavares line or on the Matthews line, there is plenty of increased offensive potential either way.

Granlund also has shown to put up good defensive results in the past and wouldn’t be a liability defensively. If the Leafs are able to add a player such as Granlund, this will allow for Thornton to move down the lineup where he should be playing, and the Leafs to have a more solid all-around third and fourth line that would be able to match up against a deeper team such as the Habs.

Bram Diamond

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a good spot heading into their 31st game of the season. With the April 12th trade deadline looking, Kyle Dubas and his staff have some serious decisions to make with the current roster.

I believe that the biggest priority for management right now should be trying to improve the forward group. The Leafs have always been known for their forwards, but this is the first year of the Matthews era where the defense does not need significant upgrades.

The team has their top 5 forwards, they just need a 6th guy. Forwards such as Filip Forsberg, Nick Foligno, Mikael Granlund, Rickard Rakell and Kyle Palmieri have all been linked to the team. I believe any of those players can improve the top six significantly.

However, Nick Foligno is unlikely to be available, the Columbus Blue Jackets are still very much in contention for a playoff spot in the Central Division. However, Forsberg and Granlund (Nashville), Rakell (Anaheim, and Palmieri (New Jersey) are more likely to be available.

Whilst the acquisition of Forsberg might be slightly more difficult due to the remainder of his term and the value on his contract, he would be an excellent fit with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which potentially could be for next season as well if Nashville retains salary in a potential deal.

Palmieri would be an easier fit with his contract expiring after the season and would likely be cheaper to bargain for at the trade deadline compared to Forsberg, the Devils have a new young core to build around.

It will be more than interesting to see what Dubas will do in the coming days to address the Toronto Maple Leafs roster.

James Tanner

The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t need to add anything – if they go into the playoffs as they are today, they’ll be one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

The Leafs high end talent is among the best in the league, as is their depth, scoring, blueline, power-play and coaching.  They aren’t the best at team defense or goaltending, but one of those things is neutralized by their excellent scoring and the other is almost too random to worry about.

A new goalie – if one that was obviously going to be better than Frederik Andersen was available – would be a nice luxury, but the odds of even identifying a better goalie, let alone trading for him, are low.

I keep hearing about how the Leafs sacrificed their forward depth for defense, and now have to replace Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnson.  While it’s an easy-to-follow narrative, the facts that neither of those guys contributed a single thing last year, and that Joe Thornton, Ilya Mikheyev, Alex Kerfoot, Wayne Simmonds and Alex Galchenyuk are as good as either player on their best day.

If the Leafs need anything, it’s a high-impact elite player who will make an actual difference.  Adding Granlund, Staal, Savard, or just about any other player the Leafs are linked to would only increase the team slightly.

How much better is Eric Staal or Mikael Granlund than Pierre Engvall? A little, maybe, but honestly not even more than a single win over a full 82 game schedule.  Almost all the rumours involve the Leafs only getting marginally better.

If the Leafs want to close the gap between them and Tampa, they’ve got to acquire one more elite player.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a forward or a defenseman, it just matters if the player is elite.

Taylor Hall, Evander Kane, Filip Forsberg, Anthony Mantha, Johnny Gaudreau or Mattias Ekholm would make the Leafs significantly better.  Those are the players the Toronto Maple Leafs need to target.