3 Hypothetical Trades Toronto Maple Leafs Should Make

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.

No. 1: The Jack Eichel Trade

The Trade:

• Toronto Maple Leafs acquire:
  • Jack Eichel
• Buffalo Sabres acquire:
  • Mitch Marner
  • 2021 2nd Round Pick

If you thought being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan was hard, just pretend being a Buffalo Sabres fan for a second. The Sabres have continued to be an NHL Lottery team for the past decade and in Jack Eichel’s six seasons in Buffalo, he’s yet to make the playoffs.

Losing in the first round is tough, but continuing to miss the playoffs, draft some of the best prospects and still be irrelevant is way worse. It makes sense why Eichel’s name has been floating around trade rumors for a while.

With a $10M cap-hit, there are not a ton of teams that can take on that salary, or it may scare a few teams away. Despite his talent, that’s a huge salary to absorb when the cap is staying flat for the foreseeable future.

Toronto is one team that can take his salary and trade a significant piece in doing so. Marner is a world-class talent and will compete for the Art Ross trophy ever year, but he’s not a 6-foot-2, 215 pound centre, like Eichel.

If Buffalo doesn’t want to get pennies on the dollar in an Eichel trade, getting Marner in exchange could be a great fit.

As John Tavares ages, he could be better suited as a winger, which means he could play beside Auston Matthews or be on Eichel’s wing. A second-line of Tavares, Eichel and William Nylander would be incredibly deadly, while Matthews can carry the top-line.

Matthews is so talented that he doesn’t need a $10.9M winger beside him to help him score, but can instead generate more than enough offense by himself. By trading for Eichel, it would create much more depth and if the team really wanted, they could slide Tavares in as the third-line centre to create even much balance.

Regardless, the Leafs should seriously consider an Eichel for Marner trade to better this team.

No. 2: The Matthew Tkachuk Trade

The Trade:

• Toronto Maple Leafs acquire:
  • Matthew Tkachuk
• Calgary Flames acquire:
  • William Nylander
  • 2022 1st Round Pick (If Tkachuk re-signs in Toronto*)
  • 2021 2nd Round Pick

This is a risky trade but Tkachuk is kind of the perfect player for the Leafs right now. Not only can he score goals, but he plays with an edge that makes him incredibly hard to play against.

Tkachuk, Matthews and Marner all have a connection to each other. Tkachuk was born in Scottsdale, AZ and Marner and him played junior hockey together with the London Knights.

Tkachuk is an RFA at the end of the 2021-22 so for the same price as William Nylander, you could get Tkachuk for one season and then you’d have to negotiate. Based on his skillset, he may be looking for $8-9M per season, but if he wants to play on a contending team with two amazing linemates, he may be inclined to stay in Toronto for a pay-cut.

Tkachuk has scored 30 goals in the NHL before, but that’s a rarity for him. However, paired beside Marner and Matthews every night, there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t return to that goal-total and score around 70-85 points as well.

Zach Hyman was a great winger with Matthews and Marner but Tkachuk would be even better. He is a much better player with way more skill, but can also play in the dirty areas.

Giving up Nylander would be a tough pill to swallow, but if you’re able to grab someone like Tkachuk in exchange, it would be a brilliant move.