The Toronto Maple Leafs are not slowing down. After smartly not trying to make a significant splash in free agency and overpay some depth players, general manager Brad Treliving is still looking to make a key addition to the team, specifically a top-six forward.
That can be a center or a winger, but with only Nikolaj Ehlers fitting the mold in free agency -- and the Danish winger rumored to be signing with someone not named the Maple Leafs -- some sort of trade will need to be done.
Depending on who the Leafs target, it would cost a variety of players and/or prospects to give up in return. Or, with incoming talent, to make room for them on the salary cap, some players would need to be moved out in a following move.
Here we look at three players who could be traded by the Maple Leafs in one of those deals.
Max Domi
With three years left on a contract that is paying him $3.75 million, Max Domi can still play above his contract, but the extremely one-way player might just not be good enough at all the aspects of hockey to really make an impact as a bottom-six player.
The term left on his contract might not be the most desirable thing for an acquiring team, but we could certainly see some middling team be comfortable taking a player that be an offensive center that can score around 40 points or so in a season.
David Kampf
With the addition of Nicolas Roy, and Scott Laughton having one more year left on his deal, there remains one massive question: Where exactly does David Kampf play? With two more seasons of a $2.4-million AAV, Kampf is an expensive 13th forward to have on the team, and one that provides zero offense to go with his above-average defense.
Considering the player and the contract, it is difficult to imagine the Maple Leafs getting anything of value back for the player, and most likely, they would have to give him away for free in a Radek Faksa-esque trade that sent the similar center to St. Louis for future considerations, or attach a low-end pick or prospect to clear some room on the cap sheet and roster page.
Calle Jarnkrok
In a similar vein to Domi but with less of a one-way ability and more well-rounded game, Jarnkrok might just be too expensive and not exactly the type of player Craig Berube wants to play in his bottom six. But, he has just one year left with a $2.1-million AAV and some team might want to add his experience to their middle six.
Chicago? San Jose? A return to Nashville? Some team could see Jarnkrok as a solidifer of their forward depth and pay a mediocre draft pick for that.
Toronto is going to need to clear out some roster bloat if they want to make some key additions to this team. These three forwards specifically are names to be on the look for when it comes to sending some players out.