The Toronto Maple Leafs have been one of the best teams in the NHL ever since Sheldon Keefe took over for Mike Babcock.
Though playoff success has eluded them so far, even the Toronto Maple Leafs biggest critics must admit that they are one of the NHL’s best teams right now.
Currently in the midst of a stretch that has seen them lose just three regulation games out of 25, the Leafs have a ton of star power, but have also shown to be one of the deepest teams in the NHL.
As the league’s most injured team to date, the Leafs have proven so deep that at this point, if they are going to add to their team through trade (and they will) there is no point in doing anything unless they can bring in another star player.
Toronto Maple Leafs and the Trade Deadline
Five of the Leafs top six forwards are legitimate superstars.
Pierre Engvall and David Kampf have made up one of the most effective third-lines in the NHL for almost a year and a half now.
A fully healthy Leafs team would have to consider scratching no-doubt NHL regulars like Pontus Holmberg, Nick Robertson, Joey Anderson, Wayne Simmonds, or Zach Aston-Reese.
On defense, things are even crazier.
The most used defenseman on the Leafs this year has been Justin Holl. He is also the most obvious place to upgrade the blueline.
Giodano is giving you top pairing play for the league minimum.
Sandin and Liljegren are crushing their minutes in a top-pairing role on a top team. They are looking like future stars, if they aren’t already. They are going nowhere.
Morgan Rielly just signed an eight year contract extension.
TJ Brodie is their most reliable defender and consistently outperforms his contact. He’s an underrated star player who makes everyone he plays with better. It seems pretty unlikely they would move him.
If Jake Muzzin came back, he would be sixth on the depth chart – that’s how crazy the Leafs blueline is right now.
Therefore, if the Toronto Maple Leafs want to improve they’d have to do so by moving the player they play the most – Justin Holl. That just doesn’t seem likely, so I therefore deduce that they will trade for a forward. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
Ideally they’d get a player who could play 3rd line centre on the road (where not having last change makes matching Kampf up against other team’s best players more difficult) and 2nd line left wing at home.
Whether that is ultimately Bo Horvat or Ryan O’Rielly remains to be seen, but I suspect the Leafs will pursue one of them, since at this point, only a star player can really improve the team.