One of the most enticing trade partners for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year is the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot in common. Prior to winning their Stanley Cup in 2010, the Blackhawks were the longest reigning NHL team without a championship. Meanwhile, that title unfortunately now belongs to Toronto.
Similarly, during the Blackhawks dynasty, they were built around two superstars: Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Toews was a leader and point producer, while Kane was the superstar talent. John Tavares or Auston Matthews would be a pretty similar player to Toews when it comes to leadership, while Marner has always been looked at as a younger Kane.
12 years removed from their first of three Stanley Cup’s, as Leafs fans, we can only hope that Toronto will have 1/3 of the success that Chicago has had over the past decade. Winning one championship is hard enough, but winning three is remarkable.
Chicago isn’t the same team they were a few years ago and are looking at a rebuild. Kane and Toews only have one year left on their contract, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens when their deal expires, but I’d assume they stay with the franchise for life.
They may want to play for another team and chase another ring, but their legacy in Chicago is already set. They’re legends in that city for life, and nobody is taking that away from them.
Although Kane and Toews aren’t going anywhere, the rest of the team is wide-open. From multiple reports, it is said that any other player is potentially available in trade discussions, so as a result, Toronto should be calling them everyday to see who’s available.
We’ll go through the forwards, defenseman and goaltenders, but here are the multiple players that the Toronto Maple Leafs should target: