3 Players The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Probably Trade
With the start of the 2024-25 NHL season right around the corner, the Toronto Maple Leafs are finalizing their opening night starting lineup, and there's a handful of players who may be traded to clear some cap space.
It was a fairly solid pre-season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who opened the season against Montreal last night (though this was written beforehand).
The Toronto Maple Leafs finished the pre-season with a very solid 4-1-1 record, and a handful of new additions made their mark on the team.
Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz both signed 1-year deals after strong showings in the pre-season, filling out the forward group even more.
With limited roster spots available and a lack of cap space, here are three players the Toronto Maple Leafs could trade to make more room on the roster.
Three Players The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Probably Trade
1. Ryan Reaves
This one's pretty obvious, and while Reaves does have his fans, he hardly brings anything to the Leafs team. He has negative value because the team does much worse when he is on the ice, and in fact he is one of the worst players in the NHL. With the addition of Lorentz, the Leafs could run a very effective fourth line of Lorentz, Pontus Holmberg, and Connor Dewar, leaving no room for Reaves on the team.
Reaves did make a nice play in Saturday's pre-season game vs the Detroit Red Wings, setting up Lorentz for his first goal in a Leafs uniform. But he may make a play this good like what, twice a season?
Reaves makes $1.35 million for this season and next, and that space is much better used elsewhere. Ideally, the Leafs find a trade partner to take Reaves, but if not, a contract buyout is also a solid idea.
2. Calle Jarnkrok
A player who was once loved by most fans for his versatility throughout the lineup and penalty-killing capabilities has now been a consistently brought up name in trade rumours.
I personally enjoy having Calle Jarnkrok on the team. He's good on the PK, can play on any forward line, any forward position, and is a consistent 15-20 goal scorer who'll tally around 35-40 points in almost any given season.
One common aspect of Jarnkrok's game that gets brought up is his lack of playoff success, most notably only having 5 goals in 93 career playoff games. Which isn't great, but in his defense, he is a depth forward, he's not meant to score that much anyways.
Jarnkrok and his $2.1 million salary may look expendable, but I personally enjoy having him on the team. There's a chance he gets moved, but I'd keep him around if I was in charge of the Leafs.
3. David Kampf
The Leafs go-to fourth line center for the last three seasons has also been a common name brought up in trade proposals because he is the NHL's most expensive fourth liner. Kampf is a perfectly fine fourth-line center, but Brad Treliving had the wonderful idea to sign him for four years at a whopping $2.4 million, which is way too much for a player of his role.
The previously mentioned Pontus Holmberg is more than capable of taking Kampf's role, leaving the former Chicago Blackhawk expendable.
In my opinion, Kampf should be moved.
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If the Leafs want to make a big splash at the trade deadline for a big-name player, someone will need to be moved to make more room, and one of these three is the most likely.