The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest misses of the NHL Trade Deadline

The dust has settled on another NHL trade deadline. No one can accuse the Toronto Maple Leafs of not pushing their chips forward and going all-in after a series of moves. General manager Kyle Dubas has done his best to upgrade the roster in hopes of going on a deep run in the playoffs.

Before the clock ran out on the opportunity to make more trades, Dubas made significant moves. They included acquiring Ryan O’Reilly along with Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues, Sam Lafferty and Jake McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks, Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks, and Erik Gustafsson from the Washington Capitals.

With all those transactions, it’s hard to believe that there were still misses.

Timo Meier

The player the Leafs would have loved to be flying Timo Meier to Toronto. Instead, he’s joining the New Jersey Devils. It took a package of forwards Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnsson, defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Nikita Okhotiuk, a conditional first, a second, and a seventh-round pick to bring him to New Jersey. As part of the deal, the Devils also added forward prospect Timur Ibragimov, defensemen Scott Harrington and Santeri Hatakka, goalie prospect Zachary Emond, and a fifth-round draft selection.

Meier would have been a massive upgrade to the Maple Leafs’ forward group. He’s registered 52 points in 57 games. They’ve come on 31 goals and 21 assists. The addition of another powerhouse scorer would put any opposition on their heels.

The acquisition would have likely meant that Toronto couldn’t have also gotten O’Reilly. To make it work, Dubas would have had to send more salary out the door and create some cap room. Even with the LTIR space, there wouldn’t have been enough for both Meier and O’Reilly without losing well-paid NHL talent.

Even though it was reported that the San Jose Sharks had a big ask from the Leafs in a return for Meier, Dubas still should have found a way to make it happen. The reason this is considered a miss is because the Maple Leafs had the assets to make Meier a Leaf. Dubas may not have wanted to ship out one of the organization’s better prospects, or perhaps, he didn’t want to clear cap space in order to find room for both O’Reilly and Meier. Either way, it would have been an enormous opportunity for the Leafs should they have done it.

Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson is a very popular player with the Washington Capitals. He has the ability to put pucks in the back of the net and opponents on their behinds. He’s the prototypical player built for postseason hockey.

Wilson has missed most of the season dealing with a lower-body injury. Whenever he has been in the lineup, however, his impact has been felt. Especially, by the opponents.

In the 14 games he’s played for Washington this season, Wilson has recorded seven goals and two assists for a total of nine points. Unsurprisingly, he has amassed 26 penalty minutes already.

The role of the on-ice enforcer has all been wiped out from the NHL. There are still a few who patrol the ice striking fear wherever they go. Milan Lucic with the Calgary Flames is one such player.

The problem has been that in order to increase team toughness, the traditional enforcer would be sent over the boards for something around eight minutes of ice time per game. Those minutes usually took away from more talented players and made scoring more difficult.

The best part of Wilson’s game is that he’s not only able to drop the mitts with anyone but he’s also a capable scorer. In fact, he’s already scored 122 NHL goals over his 661 career games.

Wilson would have made a great addition to the Leafs. The 28-year-old right-winger could have provided the missing sandpaper to the team lineup while also helping improve the offense.

Vladislav Gavrikov

The Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t keep it a secret that they were actively shopping Vladislav Gavrikov. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen ensured Gavrikov was held out of the lineup for two weeks until a trade was made.

He was eventually dealt to the Los Angeles Kings along with goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. In exchange, Columbus received a conditional first-round pick in 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024. In order to make salary cap space for the pair, Jonathan Quick was also flipped to Los Angeles.

Considering that the Leafs made moves for Gustafsson and Schenn, it was clear that they wanted more support on the back end. Gavrikov was a bright light in an otherwise dim season in Columbus. He would have been a better addition than both Gustafsson and Schenn.

Perhaps it was the money that scared Dubas away from Gavrikov. He’s in the final year of his three-year deal, which pays him $2.8 million AAV. Gavrikov is due a big raise this summer and it’s possible that Dubas didn’t like the optics of allowing a talented player to walk.

It’s hard to know why the Maple Leafs didn’t push for someone as defensively sound as Gavrikov. He would have been a great fit in Toronto and the acquisition cost wasn’t too high either. This was absolutely a miss for the Buds.

Though it would be incredible to be finishing the season with at least one of Meier, Chychrun, Wilson, or Gavrikov in a Leafs’ uniform, there’s still plenty of excitement in Toronto after what was one of their most fruitful trade deadlines.