Toronto Maple Leafs Hypothetical Trade Options With the Jets
By Marco Rovere
Like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Winnipeg Jets have one crazy offseason ahead of them. With question marks surrounding several of their top players’ future with the franchise, the Jets have to find the right team to initiate a blockbuster deal with, avoiding mistakes made in the past with a name like Patrick Laine.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they have their own questions to answer from the top to the bottom of the lineup. What do we do with 10 UFAs set to walk out the door?
How do they handle the upcoming contracts of Auston Matthews and William Nylander? Who’s playing in the net in 2024 and what do they do with Matt Murray? Does the team follow a tough, physical trend seen in the 2022-23 NHL Playoffs and upgrade their backend?
With new General Manager Brad Treliving at the helm, the Toronto Maple Leafs are sure in for one incredible offseason filled with change and could find themselves a partner in the madness with the Jets.
As for what they need, it’s hard not to immediately look at a forward group that couldn’t score more than two goals in a game in the team’s 2nd round playoff defeat to the Florida Panthers. Then again, it’s probably better not to read too much into that (small sample size, recency bias, etc.).
Options from the Jets up front could be the easiest answer to the question, with names like Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Schiefele, and Blake Wheeler all being rumored to potentially be on the move.
When looking defensively, the Jets have an influx of potential helpful options for the Leafs, but at what cost? Going all the way to the top, Josh Morrissey notched 76 points this season, 2nd in all of hockey, signalling a trade for the stud D-Man might cost a pretty penny. Instead, the Leafs could opt to look into Neal Pionk or Dylan Demelo, with the team having a lack of depth on the right side of their backend.
It’s time to do something Leaf fans love more than anything, hypothetical trades. Here are 3 trades that could benefit both the Leafs and the Jets, involving players rumored to be moving on or in a position where the team might be forced to move them despite the caliber of talent they hold.
The 1st trade I think could realistically happen, the 2nd trade is unlikely to happen but solves a major problem for the Leafs and the 3rd is bonkers for both teams, so let’s have some fun!