After losing in the First Round of the playoffs once again this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs should shake things up this offseason.
As we look at the current state of the Toronto Maple Leafs, things look promising. The team has a wonderful core-four of talent, a solid top-four defense and a hopeful number-one goalie. However, they haven’t done anything relevant of late.
It’s nice to have a few pieces intact and have them dominate the regular season, but watching them fizzle, once again, in the postseason is incredibly frustrating. You need high-end talent to win in the NHL, but when you’re relying on only four players to do the majority of the work, that’s a tough philosophy to have.
Obviously, the John Tavares injury during this year’s playoffs was tough. In my opinion, that changed the landscape of the series, but it shouldn’t have been the reason the Leafs lost to Montreal. They stormed back to a 3-1 series lead and had three separate chances to close it out, but couldn’t do it.
Tavares would have helped in those three games, but they should have been able to win, despite him being out of the lineup. Since their captain has a no-move clause and signed in Toronto to win here, he’s not going anywhere. The Leafs have consistently said that they don’t plan on moving any of their core-four, but they should never say never.
No player should be safe in any trade proposal. I mean, Wayne Gretzky got traded once and the Oilers won a Stanley Cup without him, so although you have the best player in the world, it doesn’t guarantee a championship.
With the salary cap staying flat, the Leafs should have an open-mind to better their team. As a result, here are three hypothetical trade proposals the Toronto Maple Leafs should consider this offseason.