4 Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects Who Could Be Traded at Deadline
The Toronto Maple Leafs will need to trade draft picks and prospects to make a splash at the NHL Trade Deadline this year.
In order to acquire a high-end player, the Toronto Maple Leafs will more than likely have to say goodbye to a few of their prospects.
Although you’d prefer to keep everyone in the system and develop them into future NHLers, sometimes you have to trade away a future big-leaguer for someone who’s already established. NHL general manager’s love stock-piling prospects and draft picks, despite the majority of them never turning into anything fruitful.
I can understand the allure of a draft-pick or a prospect, but when you’re a good team (like the Toronto Maple Leafs), it’s worth shipping away as many of them as possible if it means acquiring a player who’s a legit NHLer.
Would you rather have a prospect, who may be a first-line player, or acquire a player who’s already an established second-liner? I’d rather take the player we know and trust over the prospect, who could be great, or could be a bust.
As per usual, the Toronto Maple Leafs system is in a good spot right now. The Toronto Marlies are playing well and their other prospects oversees or in NCAA have high potential.
Kyle Dubas noted that Matthews Knies, Topi Niemela, Nick Robertson and Nick Abruzzese are off the table for a rental player, but he didn’t say they were untouchable.
However, based on this exercise, we’ll leave them out of the equation and focus on four other prospects who could be traded at the NHL Trade Deadline.
No. 1: Joseph Duszak
Currently in his fourth season with the Toronto Marlies, Duszak is having his best season yet.
With 34 points in 33 games, Duszak’s play-making skills have been on full-display thus far, as he’s second on the team in scoring.
The 24-year-old is small (5-foot-9) but he’s feisty. He’s never been shy to rack up PIM’s during his entire hockey career and has always been someone who’s been an offense-first type of defenseman.
His size may be an issue at the NHL-level, but his offensive ability can make up for it. He’s a great defenseman on the power-play and his high-end NHL comparable would definitely be someone like Ryan Ellis..
Duszak is at the point in his career, where he’s seemingly too good for the AHL, so an NHL team would probably be interested in taking a look at him. The Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line is pretty crowded right now and an offensive right-handed defenseman isn’t what they necessarily need, so look for him to be expendable at the trade deadline.
No. 2: Mac Hollowell
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Mac Hollowell to an extension last week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t include him in a trade.
The 22-year-old is a very interesting product and someone I’d expect to see in the NHL sooner than later. Similar to Joseph Duszak, Hollowell is a smaller-sized defenseman with a ton of offensive upside.
You probably wouldn’t have both Hollowell and Duszak in your top-six, when you already have Morgan Rielly and Rasmus Sandin who can fit that role, so it wouldn’t be shocking if they parted ways with one of those two players.
Hollowell is a former fourth round pick, who flourished in the season after getting drafted. He scored 77 points in 64 games and we’re slowly starting to see that offensive output in the American Hockey League.
Hollowell has 16 points in 28 games thus far and has been a solid prospect for the Toronto Marlies. Based on his age (22 years old) and potential for offense, Hollowell could be a very enticing prospect in a trade package.
Like any player, Toronto wouldn’t like to see Hollowell traded, but he could be a good piece that fetches them an established NHLer, which helps them win now.
No. 3: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev
Better known as “SDA,” Der-Arguchintsev has had a great rookie campaign with the Toronto Marlies, scoring 25 points in 39 games played.
At 20-years-old, the Russian centre is still young, but has a ton of offensive upside, as shown by his play paired beside Nick Robertson in the Ontario Hockey League. The duo ripped it up for the Peterborough Petes, as SDA was a great play-maker registering 63 assists in 55 games.
Like many young and undersized centre’s, SDA needs to work on his defensive-play before he ever gets called up to the big-league’s, but he’s still very raw.
This is the 20-year-old’s first full professional season, so it’s going to come with many up’s and down’s. At 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, unless he bulks up tremendously, he’s always going to have issues defending, which will be the downside of his game.
Despite the defensive issues, his play-making ability and offensive abilities have been good in his first full-year, as he’s fifth on the team in scoring with 25 points.
Although you can never have too many centres in the system, SDA could be a good trade chip for the Leafs, as they look to fetch a legitimate NHLer.
No. 4: Alex Steeves
When the news broke about Toronto’s “untouchable” prospects, I was surprised that Alex Steeves’ name wasn’t included.
The 22-year-old has had a marvelous season registering 31 points in 32 games with the Toronto Marlies this year; building off a fantastic senior season in the NCAA, with Notre Dame.
Steeves was a Hobey Baker Finalist during his last year with Notre Dame and that momentum has definitely continued at the professional level. Although Steeves is a centre and Zach Hyman was a winger, they share a lot of similarities in their development and Toronto shouldn’t be so quick to ship him away in a trade, although he’ll be wanted.
Hyman was also a four-year collegiate player, who was a Hobey Baker Finalist in his senior year and followed that up with 37 points in 59 games with the Marlies in his first professional season.
Steeves is undersized (5-foot-11, 185 pounds), compared to Hyman (6-foot-1, 210 pounds), but he also plays a more important position (centre vs. wing).
If Toronto can avoid trading Steeves, it would be ideal, but if he was used in a package that got them J.T. Miller, that wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
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Toronto’s prospect-pool is very strong right now, so don’t be shocked if one of these players gets traded at the Deadline for a rental.