What Do the Toronto Maple Leafs Have to Offer in a Trade?
With the March 21st NHL trade deadline approaching, trade rumours surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs are starting to heat up.
There are lots of rumours about who the Toronto Maple Leafs may acquire, but there’s not much talk about what the Leafs might give up in return.
Perhaps that’s rightfully so. Around last year’s trade deadline the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to acquire six players (Nick Foligno, David Rittich, Ben Hutton, Riley Nash, Antti Suomela and Stefan Noesen) and gave up the often scratched Alexander Barabanov and six faceless draft picks. There’s obvious value in draft picks, but the actual roster was left relatively unscathed.
However, this season may be different. The Toronto Maple Leafs no longer have so many picks to pay for players. At the same time, the Leafs may not need as many “insurance players” with a healthy amount of depth players now on the Marlies and taxi squad.
What do the Toronto Maple Leafs have to offer? Who do they want to trade, who would they trade if the price was right and what would other teams value?
Toronto Maple Leafs Roster Players
Untouchables: Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie, Rasmus Sandin, Jack Campbell
Not Likely to Trade: Alex Kerfoot, Michael Bunting, Ondrej Kase, Ilya Mikheyev, Pierre Engvall, David Kampf, Timothy Liljegren, Petr Mrazek
Might Trade: Justin Holl, Travis Dermott
Willing to Trade: Nick Ritchie
Despite what the haters may say, there is no way the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to trade any of their “core four” forwards by the trade deadline. They’re not going to trade their starting goalie either.
Their top three defensemen all have no trade clauses, and they wouldn’t trade them anyway. Wayne Simmonds also has a no-trade clause, and Jason Spezza has stated publicly that he’d retire if he wasn’t with the Leafs. Rasmus Sandin is in the untouchable group, because the Leafs have a lot of faith in him becoming a huge part of their blueline in the future.
Alex Kerfoot, Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engavall are all on pace for their best seasons in a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform, so they won’t likely be traded. Michael Bunting and Ondrej Kase are looking like the greatest steals of free agency this season. Kampf is playing solid defense as expected. I wouldn’t say any of these players are “untouchable,” but the Leafs are happy with them all.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are also happy with Timothy Liljegren’s development, but he’s more likely to be traded than Sandin if an extremely good trade came along. Justin Holl or Travis Dermott could very well be traded, but it will only happen if the Leafs can upgrade their defense.
Petr Mrazek hasn’t had a great season, but I doubt the Leafs would trade him unless they got another very good goaltender in return. They can’t rely on Hutchinson or Woll to take over the net if Campbell goes down in the playoffs.
At this point, the Toronto Maple Leafs will want to move Nick Ritchie. It doesn’t make sense to be paying a player $2.5 million to sit in the press box. The question is if there will be any takers. Perhaps Ritchie could move in a deal instead of requesting a team to take on salary from a player coming to Toronto.
Now let’s look at some of the Toronto Maple Leafs Depth Players, Picks and Top Prospects that could be on the move:
Toronto Maple Leafs Depth Players, Picks and Top Prospects
Not Likely to Trade: Kyle Clifford, Joey Anderson, Alex Steeves, Brett Seney, Brendan Kressler, Ty Voit, Pontus Holmberg, Mikael Abramov, Nick Robertson, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Joe Miller, Dmitri Ovchinnikov, Rodion Amirov, Matthew Knies, Nicholas Abruzzese, Ryan Tverberg, Roni Hirvonen, Veeti Miettinen, Alex Biega, Carl Dahlstrom, Chad Krys, Mac Hollowell, William Villeneuve, Filip Kral, Topi Niemelä, Mikko Kokkonen, Michael Hutchinson, Erik Kallgren, Joseph Woll, Ian Scott, Artur Akhtiamov, Vyacheslav Peksa
Might Trade: Joseph Duszak, Brennan Menell, 2022 Draft Picks (1st, 2nd, 7th), 2023 DraftPicks (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th).
Willing to Trade: Denis Malgin, Teemu Kivihalme
There are no untouchables when it comes to Toronto Maple Leafs non-roster players, however, they value their prospects more than draft picks and may value their depth players more than what other teams would be willing to give up.
All of Toronto’s draft picks are on the table right now. I don’t think they’ll give up as many picks as they did around last year’s trade deadline because they have more depth players this season that can fill in for injuries during the playoffs.
I could see them trading Brennan Menell to a team willing to give him a chance like they have in the past with players like Alexander Barabanov or Mikko Lehtonen. Menell has only played nine games for the Marlies so far and really hasn’t worked out for the Toronto Maple Leafs despite last year’s amazing season in the KHL.
One Toronto Maple Leafs prospect I could really see moving ahead of the others is Joseph Duszak. He has value as a point-per-game defenseman in the AHL, but he hasn’t been given a chance with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He may have a better shot at making the NHL on another team as the Leafs have decided to call up Biega, Dahlstrom and Rubins over Duszak this season.
I think the only non-roster assets the Toronto Maple Leafs would really like to move are Denis Malgin and Teemu Kivihalme. There probably isn’t much interest in Kivihalme since he’s only played three games on the Toronto Marlies this season. His contract expires in July, and he’ll become a UFA.
Denis Malgin is having a great year in the Swiss National League and if a team can persuade him to return to the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs would likely trade his rights away for next to nothing. Malgin chose to play in Switzerland instead of Toronto by refusing the Leafs qualify offer as an RFA last summer. The Leafs hold his NHL rights for the next two years.
dark. Next. Top 3 Defensemen the Leafs Should Trade For
If an upgrade to their top four defensemen is what the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for, I could see them moving a Holl or Dermott, a mid-range prospect and a pick to get one depending on who they’re able to obtain.