Toronto Maple Leafs: Some Potential 2022 Trade Deadline Targets

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to upgrade their team before the March 21st trade deadline.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should be looking to upgrade their defense first and, if possible, try to upgrade their bottom-six forward group. Upgrading the bottom-six forward group will probably be easier than upgrading the defense. Teams seem to set higher asking prices for defensemen as they are usually the most coveted.

The teams that will be sellers at the trade deadline are becoming clearer. In most divisions, the top four teams are starting to distance themselves from the rest. Knowing which teams are selling makes it easier to speculate which players will be available at the trade deadline.

More often than not, the players available at the trade deadline are pending unrestricted free agents (UFA) and classified as playoff rentals. After a few playoff rentals not working out for Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas in previous seasons, it is rumored that he would like to trade for players who have at least one more year left on their contract.

The biggest problem with trading for players that still have some term left on their contract usually means a higher asking price from the selling team. Keeping these things in mind, I have put together a list of players I think Kyle Dubas should target at the deadline.