10 (Mostly) Elite Defensemen the Toronto Maple Leafs Could Trade For

7. Tomas Chabot

Tomas Chabot is a good, not great player and I wouldn’t trade William Nylander for him.  In the summer I thought this was a pretty good trade, but after learning more about Chabot, and seeing Nylander get even better, I don’t think this would enough to get for Nylander.

That said, he is a lot better than what the Leafs have and, at 26 he’s got enough prime year left to worth investing in.  Maybe he even has a little bit of upside left.

The Senators have too many similar defenseman and there are five years left on Chabot’s $8 million cap-hit deal.

A no-trade clause kicks in after this season.

With Sanderson and Chychrun, it makes it likely the Senators will trade Chabot before that kicks in.

Since this season isn’t going how they want it to, they might be interested in a deal.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should have interest.  Chabot and Rielly going on-two on the left side would be pretty sweet, and while the cap hit isn’t ideal, Jarkrok and Klingberg would take care of most of it.

This isn’t my favorite idea, but since Chabot is underperforming vs his contract, and Ottawa might be somewhat desperate to move him, I think there is some potential for good value here.  Especially if you used a third team to lower his contract with some retention.

This is actually one  of my least favorite ideas on this list, but Chabot’s upside and the potential for some hidden value here might make it worthwhile.