Expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a trade this offseason sooner than later.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been very active in free agency thus far, which means they’ll have to make a trade to stay salary-cap compliant.
Brad Treliving has added “snot” to the line-up and in my opinion, this team is better than they were last year.
However, they are about to get worse if they trade William Nylander, unless they somehow become one of the only teams to trade away a star scoring winger in his prime and get back good value.
Nylander is the most interesting case right now for the Leafs because we’ve seen him drag out contract negotiations before. However, this one is different because he’s still technically under contract for one more season.
If the Leafs and Nylander can’t get a deal done over the summer, he’s not going to sit out like he did a few years ago, but it could mean that he’ll be on another team that is willing to pay him a pricey extension.
Toronto has three options they can do with Nylander right now.
- Sign him to an extension
- Trade him
- Wait until 2024 offseason to negotiate
No. 1 or No. 2 are the best options for the Leafs because with those scenarios, it gives them control of Nylander. If they go with No. 3, they’ll most likely be losing him for nothing next offseason.
If Nylander scores 40 goals and helps this team win a Stanley Cup next year, then No. 3 is a fine option, but I think the Leafs would much rather lock him up long-term or trade him while his value is the highest so they’re losing him for nothing.
The Toronto Raptors just went through this scenario with Fred VanVleet and it turned out to the best worst case scenario because they let him walk for nothing, while losing in the play-in round. They secured zero assets for a player that would have fetched them a sizeable return.
Here are three hypothetical trades you could expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to make this offseason.