Toronto Maple Leafs: Who Will be the First Player Traded this Season?

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, who was hired on May 31, 2023, a few days after Memorial Day, had a tidy, quiet summer.

He crossed off a few things on his to-do list: he signed some free agents on July 1; got star center Auston Matthews to agree on a long-term extension; and gave head coach Sheldon Keefe some security by lengthening his pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs by two years.

There is one rather large piece of business left for the Leafs decision maker: the looming status of free-agent to be William Nylander, the forward whose current deal runs out at the end of the upcoming campaign.

Other than those items, Treliving enjoyed a couple of pretty ho-hum, cottage lifestyle type of months. Now, it’s post-Labor Day and winter is coming. The Leafs report for training camp in less than two weeks.

Sure, this is not Treliving’s first stampede, but he’s about to experience a rodeo inside a fishbowl – something that is unique inside the hockey market: the pressure of being the cowboy to pull the Maple Leaf reins.

So far, Treliving has not veered too far off the trail. Yes, he made a few somewhat questionable signings, but he wanted to brand this team in his image: gritty and pesky.

However, Treliving has yet to make his first trade for his new team, and, although there should be lots of ups for the Leafs this year, when the valleys come, the fan base and media will clamor. When that happens, Treliving could send a player or two on a first-class flight to another city.

Who will be the first Maple Leaf traded in 2023-24? It would have to be one of the incumbent players brought in by former Leaf GM Kyle Dubas outside of the ‘Core Four’ and defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Let’s examine the top three candidates in reverse order of likelihood.

Toronto Maple Leafs Most Likely to be Traded: #3 Calle Jarnkrok

Could Calle Jarnkrok be the first player to get traded under the new regime?

Plenty of outsiders think Calle Järnkrok could be the first Leaf to fall off the tree, mainly due to the $2.1M AAV (capfriendly.com) that he carries and the toe tap dance Treliving will need to perform for the team to stay under $83.5M (total team amount).

The Leafs are currently over the salary cap, and getting rid of Jarnkrok would go a long way towards fixing that.

Notwithstanding his chameleon-like ability to blend seamlessly onto any of the four lines head coach Sheldon Keefe deploys, the Leafs do not stand to gain more than a mid-round draft pick or a player similar to his abilities for Järnkrok.

Therefore, not trading the versatile forward would be the better move for Treliving, unless he is packaged with Nylander or someone else to balance out salaries in a blockbuster trade.

Järnkrok can kill penalties and was decent on the second power-play unit last season. He can be a streaky scorer and did post 20 goals last season, so there is lots of upside to a relatively seasoned player, who can add punch on the third-line.

Still, he’s not one of those players that would be terribly missed and any one of the budding Toronto Marlies could fill this line-up spot at a fraction of the price.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs could find a way to include him in a multi-player trade, Järnkrok could be changing his phone number quite soon.

T.J Brodie

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie sure looks like he is getting long in the tooth.

As per his performance in the second-round of the playoffs against the Eastern Conference Champion Florida Panthers, Brodie has skated passed his better years of hockey.

Then again, he is coming off a fairly great season and his overall playoff numbers were not bad.

Brodie also counts for $5M towards the Leafs’ cap hit. He’s a 33-year-old who appears steady at times, but does not perform the one function the Leafs sorely need: he is not an intimidating presence.

He rarely takes the body and could be looking at a major age related decline any time, if it hasn’t already started to happen.

Brodie has been worth his cap-hit in all three seasons he’s played with the Leafs so far, but if they aren’t confident that he can continue to perform at a high level, then his cap hit is too much and he needs to be moved.

Brodie might get a decent return from either a rebuilding team, for his veteran presence, or a contender, who might believe they can turn his game around. Treliving let Brodie walk into free agency, where he signed with the Leafs four years ago, so it is not a stretch to think he may part ways with him, again.