If the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to make a trade this year, it better be for a superstar.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are Stanley Cup contenders. Let me repeat that. The Toronto Maple Leafs are Stanley Cup contenders and could realistically win the championship this year.
For the past few years, this team has been a contender, although people seem to forget that pretty quickly because they haven’t won a playoff round.
Would you rather be a team like the Montreal Canadiens who made it to one Stanley Cup Final and lost, or a team that is consistently in the mix every year?
I’d rather take five lottery tickets than one and that’s exactly what the Leafs are right now.
They’ve continued to be in the mix since Auston Matthews’ second year, but haven’t gotten the job done. However, this year seems a little different. The team is playing the best defensive hockey of the Sheldon Keefe Era, despite playing Victor Mete regular minutes.
Their defensive-core has been hit with the injury bug, but they continue to win and it’s incredibly impressive. Obviously, nothing matters until the playoffs, but one of these years they’re going to win a series. It’s impossible to lose in Game 7 this many times in a row, so if it happens again, the Leafs should just be relegated to the American Hockey League, never to be seen again.
So with that being said, Toronto needs to make a splash and go big-name hunting to give themselves the best chance at a ring this year. They’ve made important small deals in the past, but this year should be all about acquiring a superstar.
Here are four superstars the Toronto Maple Leafs should target.