3 Trades to Make Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Favorites

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a chance to change their playoff misfortune by making a huge trade at this year’s NHL Trade Deadline.

Remember when there wasn’t a salary-cap and the Toronto Maple Leafs could make crazy big moves, acquiring future Hall-of-Famers?

Players like Brian Leetch, Phil Housley, Ron Francis and Doug Gilmour were all acquired near the end of their career to give the Leafs one more chance at winning a Stanley Cup. Obviously, some of those trades worked out better and the team never ended up winning a championship, but at least it was exciting.

I’d love to live in a world where Toronto could make a splash like that, but we haven’t seen the team acquire a top player at the deadline in years. General Manager Kyle Dubas has continued to say that he doesn’t want to mortgage the team’s future too much when it comes to acquiring a rental player, but sometimes you have to go full video-game GM and make a splash.

When you’re playing a video game, draft picks and prospects don’t matter, but instead, all you care about is acquiring the biggest fish. This trade deadline is stacked with talent and the Leafs should do whatever it takes to get better.

Matthew Knies, Topi Niemela and all of the team’s draft picks should be on the table this year, if it means they’re going to be better this year. You only get so many chances to win a Stanley Cup and the window is closing for this team, so they should take advantage of it now.

Here are three trade acquisitions that would turn Toronto into the Stanley Cup favorite.