The Toronto Maple Are Going to Trade Matthews Knies, And they Should

The Toronto Maple Are Going to Trade Matthews Knies, And they are right to do so.

A mistake the Toronto Maple Leafs have made in the past is not loading up before the deadline.

Last year, they added Mark Giordano, and that was about it.  They then proceeded to punt any gains made by getting him by sitting Timothy Liljegren, and lost to Tampa by a goal.

Here is the thing about losing by a goal: It makes the math pretty easy – had you added another top player, that would have been enough.

So I fully expect the Leafs to add not one, but two impact players at the upcoming trade deadline.

And in order to do that, they are going to trade their top prospect, Matthews Knies and 2 x first round picks.  They will also likely need to move Kerfoot to make some cap space.  Maybe even Justin Holl. I would expect their deals to be fairly significant.

Toronto Maple Leafs Going All-in

If my dream job was on the line, I wouldn’t be going quietly into the night. Kyle Dubas might even already have an extension for all we know.  Given how this team otherwise operates, it is pretty hypocritical to base the entire future of the franchise on one seven game series against Tampa four months from now.

I expect Dubas will take a pretty huge swing for either Timo Meir or Bo Horvat.  And after that, if he didn’t also acquire a top four defender to improve what is already the best 1-6 group in the NHL I would be shocked.

The list of defenseman said to be available is pretty thin.  John Klingberg is not going to improve this team. Same goes with mysteriously popular trade target Vladislav Gavrikov. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to get creative if they want to improve their blue-line, because its so good most of the players they could get won’t improve it. The only way to improve over what they have is to get someone at the top that pushes everyone down.

But this isn’t an article about who the Leafs should get, it’s an article about who they should trade.

And who they should trade is: all of their best assets.

The time to win is now.

Hedging bets for the future is something for teams less desperate than the Toronto Maple Leafs.  There is a great chance that ownership ruins the best team they’ve ever had if they don’t finally get some results this year.

So that means Matthew Knies is getting traded. It means if there’s a real #1 available, Rasmus Sandin could also get traded. It means that 2 x first rounders are getting traded.

The future is now.