No. 1: Mike Hoffman
The St. Louis Blues are currently on the outside looking into, when it comes to a playoff spot, so if they continue to falter for the next week, Hoffman could be on the way out.
Hoffman isn’t a name that has came up in trade rumors yet, which is surprising.
The 31-year-old was recently healthy scratched, only makes $4M per season and is a pending UFA. Not only that, but he’s averaged between 20-35 goals for the past six seasons, so why wouldn’t the Leafs be interested?
The left-winger is a goal scoring machine. He has limited playoff action but as a member of the Ottawa Senators who reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016-17, he scored six goals and had 11 points in 19 games.
Toronto could use another top-six left-winger, who can contribute offensively. Obviously Pearson or Foligno, who we previously mentioned, would be a great addition to the Leafs, but Hoffman would contribute serious goal-scoring ability that those two can’t provide.
If the Blues can’t agree on an extension with Hoffman, then it would make sense to move him for an asset. Hoffman’s scoring ability is something that’s incredibly hard to find on the trade market, so if the Leafs want to go all-in this year, he’d be a much better option than someone like Taylor Hall, and you’d paid a much lesser price for him.
There have been some character issues with Hoffman in the past, but if Toronto thinks that their leadership group can fix that, they should definitely look to acquire him.