4 Toronto Maple Leafs players that could be traded sooner than expected
Which Maple Leafs players could be moved in the coming weeks despite the team’s early success?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had an alrigh start to their 2024-25 NHL season. With a bad record of 4-4-0 they might not be getting results, but they've played better than that, and have beaten the likes of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning, while going toe-to-toe against a formidable New York Rangers team before falling in a close match.
More impressively, the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to hold the opposition to two non-empty net goals or less in each of their first six games of the season, until Tuesday’s outlier against the Columbus Blue Jackets. With such strong defensive play and elite goaltending for the most part, we are definitely beginning to witness a new brand of Leafs hockey this year like never before.
With the current success under new head coach Craig Berube, the Maple Leafs haven’t had to tinker too much with their regular lineup other than the odd move or two between games.
However, with the eventual return of more abled bodies from the IR pretty soon, together with the Maple Leafs current tight cap space crunch, they will likely have some tough decisions that they will need to make with their roster in the coming weeks. Like it or not, there will be some moving parts that need to be dealt with.
4 Toronto Maple Leafs players that could be traded sooner than expected
In doing so, the Leafs will likely be forced to make a trade or two to make sure all of the players end up being happy, along with keeping themselves cap-compliant at the same time.
As a result, we will take a look at four Maple Leafs players that could end up being traded sooner than expected due to such circumstances.
Calle Jarnkrok
Two years ago, the Maple Leafs appeared to have made a good deal when they signed Calle Jarnkrok to a four-year, $8.4 million deal in free agency during the 2022 offseason.
As a proven penalty kill specialist along with some offensive potential, Jarnkrok delivered in his first season with the club. he ended up posting career highs in goals (20) and points (39) while helping the Leafs to a 12th-ranked penalty kill in the league.
However, Jarnkrok had a more underwhelming year last season with the Maple Leafs, as he registered just 10 goals, 11 assists for 21 points in 52 total games played.
At the same time, with Jarnkrok still a key part of the Leafs penalty kill unit, their efficiency rate with a man short fell to 76.9% to rank just 23rd overall in the entire NHL.
Not only that, but he was also a non-factor during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins. Jarnkrok recorded zero points in the seven-game series while giving up three more goals than they scored in all situations whenever he was on the ice.
This season, Jarnkrok hasn’t had the opportunity for redemption just yet as he began the year on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury. With no exact timeline of his return, he easily could become the odd man out as the team chemistry with the current core group on the ice could be perfected by the time Jarnkrok is fully recovered from his ailment.
Added to the fact that he has an annual salary cap hit of $2.1 million AAV, he could become a prime target for the Leafs to move when he ultimately gets back onto the ice.
David Kampf
David Kampf has been the Maple Leafs trusted soldier for each of the past four seasons. With the ability to be strong in the faceoff circle, along with playing reliable defense at even strength and on the penalty kill, he has been all that the Leafs could ask for in a reliable, bottom-six forward.
Kampf actually impressed during his first season with the club in 2021-22 when he was able to chip in offensively as well. He recorded a career-high 11 goals and 26 points in 82 games that year, and quickly followed it up with another 27-point season in 2022-23. In doing so, his strong overall play netted Kampf a surprising four-year, $10 million contract during the 2023 offseason.
However, his usage has actually been diminished ever since signing the contract. Rather than playing up and down in the lineup as in previous seasons, Kampf has become stuck as the primary 4th line center for the Leafs in each of the past two seasons.
In fact, for this year, he has seen his average ice-time fall to just over 11 minutes per game after hanging around close to 15 minutes a night between 2021-2023. In doing so, his offensive output dropped to just 19 points in 2023-24 and with just one assist to show for to date this season. He even ended up being a healthy scratch for the first time in a while on Tuesday in Columbus.
At a whopping $2.5 million AAV for a fourth-line player producing at less than 0.25 ppg, it seems like a huge overpay. Especially when other candidates such as Pontus Holmberg and Connor Dewar could probably do the exact same job for almost two to three times less in cost.
As a result, Kampf’s days in a Leafs uniform could be numbered when Dewar makes his return from LTIR.
Timothy Liljegren
As one of the Maple Leafs up-and-coming defenseman for the past few seasons, there were high hopes that Timothy Liljegren would evolve and ultimately become a top-four pairing rearguard in the NHL.
After all, he was once predicted to go first overall in his draft year and had drawn comparisons to star fellow countryman Erik Karlsson with regards to his skating, playmaking ability and offensive prowess.
Looking back, it actually ended up taking a little while until finally Liljegren became a mainstay on the Leafs defensive corps. It was not until he was finally paired with veteran Mark Giordano did Liljegren begin to advance his game both offensively and defensively.
Last season, he recorded his career high in assists with 20, along with tying his career-high in points with 23 in just 55 games played. His strong performance also rewarded him with some playing time in the top two pairings over the course of the year, giving the Leafs hope that he may be maturing into a top-four option soon.
However, Liljegren has found himself in Berube’s doghouse to start the 2024-25 season. After being a staple in the top-six in the back end for each of the past three seasons, he has now been a healthy scratch in all but one game so far this year.
It also didn’t help that in the one game that he did appear in, he posted a horrendous 9% CF%, 6% expected goals % and 11% SCF% in the 11-plus minutes he played in 5-on-5 situations. That automatically earned him a spot in the pressbox in the immediate game that followed.
With a salary cap hit of $3 million AAV per season, along with his sparing usage to date, Liljegren appears to be a strong candidate to be traded within the coming weeks. In doing so, he would get back his playing time and a chance to revitalize his career, while the Leafs would be able to capitalize on his talents and receive a precious asset or two in return to help the club.
Nick Robertson
Finally, no one had more to prove coming into the 2024-25 season than Nick Robertson. After being snake-bitten with unfortunate injuries earlier in his career, Robertson finally saw his first full season with the Leafs in 2023-24. Despite not being comsistently in the Leafs everyday lineup, he managed to put up 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 56 games played, averaging close to 0.5 ppg in the process. However, his performance in the playoffs left a lot to be desired as he was held scoreless in the six games that he appeared in.
Despite his solid performance overall, Robertson nonetheless felt he was underused this past season and demanded for a potential trade during the 2024 offseason, as he looked for greater opportunities to showcase his talents.
In the end, he re-signed with the Leafs on a one-year deal as Berube gave him the vote of confidence that he would be given all the chances to show what he has got. (All stats from NHL.com and naturalstattrick.com, and all salaries from PuckPedia.com)
It appeared as though things were on the way up when Robertson was by far one of the Maple Leafs best players during training camp. He led the team with 5 goals on 11 shots during the preseason over 4 games played.
More importantly, the intensity and hunger that he played with felt like this will be finally his breakout season coming up.
However, Robertson had been held scoreless in his first six games of the 2024-25 season before finally getting on the scoreboard on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets. For someone that thrives on scoring with his lethal shot, he currently isn’t producing enough to warrant him a permanent fixture in the everyday lineup.
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His $875,000 AAV salary may not be an issue, but if he continues to underwhelm in his performance despite getting a fair opportunity, a change of scenery may be the exact antidote to get him back on track.