Toronto Maple Leafs: Mikael Granlund Believed to be Primary Trade Target

The NHL trade deadline is April 12, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are ready to start making moves.

It isn’t news to anyone right now that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to add to their lineup and do it as soon as possible as the trade deadline is approaching us very soon.

It’s been known that the Leafs are looking to add to their forward group, in particular a top-six winger who can play on both sides of the puck.

Last night on TSN’s Insider Trading,  Frank Seravalli noted that he believes he knows who the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ primary target is at this point as they’ve been linked to almost every available player on the market it feels like.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Mikael Granlund

Last night on Insider Trading, Frank Seravalli stated that he believes he knows who the Maple Leafs’ primary target is at this point approaching the NHL trade deadline, and it is apparently Mikael Granlund from Nashville.

Now if you’ve been following who the Toronto Maple Leafs have been linked to in recent weeks, you may have already heard the name, Mikael Granlund.  He’s probably the most linked player to the Leafs for the last few months, partially because they are known to have tried to sign him last summer.

Fast forward to March 24th and Mikael Granlund has been linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs by almost everyone in the industry as he seems like he is the perfect fit for this Leafs team.

Is Mikael Granlund actually a good fit?

Mikael Granlund is the closest thing to a perfect fit for this Toronto Maple Leafs team in my opinion and I honestly think if they are really serious about him, we could see a trade sooner rather than later between Toronto and Nashville.

Granlund isn’t necessarily the 6’4 power forward that most Leaf fans always dream about, but he is a 5’10, 185 lbs winger/centre that plays bigger than he actually is. What I mean by that is he doesn’t play like he’s afraid to go get the puck, and despite being under 6’0, he’ll always try and get that puck back if he lost it.

.2020-21 stats – 29 GP – 6 G – 6 A – 12 PTS – 54.3 CF%

Career stats – 569 GP – 117 G – 247 A – 364 PTS – 50.5 CF%

He isn’t having the ideal 2021 season with the Nashville Predators, but that’s simply because the Predators themselves aren’t having an ideal season and currently see themselves on the outside of a playoff picture looking in.

Before getting traded to Nashville in February of 2019, Granlund had put up a couple 60 point seasons as a member of the Minnesota Wild, so if he can start producing like the same player he was in Minnesota for Toronto, that’ll be a fantastic addition to the top-six.

Granlund signed a one-year deal worth $3.75M to return to Nashville in the off-season, so acquiring him and that cap hit, especially when it’s being prorated as the days ago by in the regular season as well if Nashville also retains half of it, will be more than affordable for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The only thing that is kind of questionable right now is if Nashville still sees themselves as a team who will sell most of their pieces ahead of the trade deadline. The reason for that is they went 4-3-1 on their most recent road trip and now see themselves only a couple of points out of the last playoff spot in the Central Divison.

Although another player on the Predators to keep an eye on for a potential trade is defensemen, Mattias Ekholm, as numerous insiders around the industry have said that Toronto has been involved in potentially pursuing the defensemen, and others have said they are front runners for him too.  (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)

It will be interesting to see what the Leafs actually end up doing.