The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to add to their roster as they prepare to fight for a playoff spot down the stretch. Earlier in the season, it appeared that the Leafs were headed towards a throw-away year after struggling mightily coming out of the gate. But with their resurgence as of late, Toronto has made themselves potential contenders once again, tilting the direction towards being buyers rather than sellers at the upcoming trade deadline.
But as much as they want to add players that could provide an immediate impact with the club, the Leafs should make sure they don’t end up picking up pieces that could potentially become negligible come playoff time. As a result, we will take a look at 3 players that the Maple Leafs should avoid trading for this deadline.
Andrew Mangiapane
With the Maple Leafs in search of more secondary scoring behind the likes of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann, GM Brad Treliving could turn to one of his former players back during his time with the Calgary Flames in forward Andrew Mangiapane. After all, Mangiapane appeared destined to be a top-six forward following his breakout 35-goal, 55-point campaign back during the 2021-22 NHL season.
However, he hasn’t come close to that level of production ever since, failing to reach 20 goals or more than 43 points in each of his past four years. More significantly, despite being given quality minutes with the offensive juggernaut Edmonton Oilers team featuring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Mangiapane has yet to regain his scoring touch and is on pace for just 10 goals and 20 points this season, which would be his lowest totals since back when he was a rookie in the league. If he can’t get it going with one of the best offensive teams in the league in the Oilers, the chances are he won’t be doing much better with the Leafs and under head coach Craig Berube’s system. So Toronto should save their resources for a more proven, consistently productive target.
Brayden Schenn
Brayden Schenn was a popular trade target for the Leafs even last season when they almost landed the 34-year-old veteran from the St. Louis Blues. But the trade deal eventually fell through and it was later learned that the Maple Leafs had promising prospects Easton Cowan and Ben Danford on the table at the time. So then should Toronto try to go down the same path this time around?
It might have been a great idea last season, but with the way things have panned out this year, it might not be the best of ideas going forward for the Leafs. Schenn has only put up nine goals and 19 points over 50 games played this season with the Blues, which puts him on pace for his lowest totals since 2012-13 with the Philadelphia Flyers. In addition, for someone that has been known to play responsibly with the puck to establish a lifetime giveaway-to-takeaway ratio close to 1-to-1, he has struggled immensely in that department during the past two seasons with almost a 3.5-to-1 ratio. So those expecting more Ryan O’Reilly type of impact from 2022-23 from Schenn might end up getting more Nick Foligno from 2020-21 instead.
On top of that, Cowan has developed nicely and been a pleasant surprise for the Maple Leafs this season with seven goals and 16 points in 38 games while playing predominantly in the bottom six in recent weeks. In addition, Danford put up a solid showing with Team Canada at the World Juniors as well. So if the asking price is similar to what the Blues were looking for last season, the Leafs should definitely stay away as far as possible.
Luke Schenn
It would certainly be a sentimental feeling among Leafs fans if Toronto brought back Luke Schenn for a third go-around with the team. After all, the last time the bruising defenseman was back with the club, he helped the Maple Leafs reach the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022-23.
However, at age 36 already, he has seen some regression in his game in recent years. This season, Schenn has registered just a 45% CF%, 43% expected goals rate and 43% scoring chances rate in 5-on-5 situations, tilting the favour predominantly to the opposition whenever he takes the ice despite playing mainly bottom-pair minutes. In addition, he has recorded 36 giveaways as opposed to only six takeaways, resulting in a dismal 6-to-1 giveaway-to-takeaway ratio which is the worst mark of his career. So don’t expect Schenn to slot in effectively beside Morgan Rielly on the top pair and dominate like the last time he was in town.
Moreover, with numbers like that, believe it or not, they are eerie similar to that of defenseman Simon Benoit with the Leafs this season. So why should Toronto sacrifice prospects or draft picks to trade for someone who profiles similarly to an asset that they already own? As a result, as much as it could be a feel-good story to bring home both of the Schenn brothers this year, the Leafs should avoid both Luke and Brayden at all costs.