The Toronto Maple Leafs made significant additions around the trade deadline last season, but according to a recent report, they could have gone in a different direction on the blue line.
According to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch, the Maple Leafs sent a significant offer to acquire defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen from the Philadelphia Flyers before the March 7 trade deadline a few months ago. Noting that Leafs general manager Brad Treliving was apparently desperate to try and get the 30-year-old Finnish blueliner and the supposed overwhelming package that he sent to Flyers general manager Danny Briere, was promptly rejected.
"League executives also suggested the Senators could try to see if they can find a fit with the Philadelphia Flyers for right-shot blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen, who has two years left at $5.1 million per season.Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun
But it should be noted that the Toronto Maple Leafs tried desperately to get Ristolainen at the trade deadline in March, and were rebuffed.
“The Leafs offered the moon and couldn’t get him out of there,” a league source said."
It all depends on the timing of this of course, but we all know that March 7 was an active day in Toronto. First, they acquired Scott Laughton from said Flyers for a first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin in the final hours that were available to them. And then, in the very final moments, it was announced that they acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins for a separate first-round pick and center prospect Fraser Minten.
Considering the timing of the moves that were actually made, could this "moon" offer have been attached to the original Laughton trade to get a 2-for-1 deal and get help both in the bottom six and on the blue line from one team?
Notably, the Flyers would have had to retain on Ristolainen's contract that spanned through the 2026-27 season. To get to the same cap hit that Carlo currently has, Philadelphia would have had to retain around $1.615 million for the next two seasons. And interestingly enough, after they traded Andrei Kuzmenko to the Los Angeles Kings earlier on trade deadline day, they only had one salary retention spot available to them -- which was eventually used to get Laughton to Toronto.
Maybe this package was offered but the Flyers could not accept it because of the lack of salary retention? Or, maybe they didn't want to be on the books for so long and figured they could eventually trade the veteran blueliner without retained salary later on? They are a team that has repeatedly mentioned to the media how they want to use the 2026 offseason as a jumping off point to start competing for the playoffs -- those dollars and retention spot could be handy in the future when they are more necessary.
Otherwise, we cannot see the Leafs targeting Ristolainen again this summer (because the defenseman is currently out with an injury and will miss Flyers training camp) or even next season with all the hulking right-handed defensemen they already have on the blue line.
Would the end result of the postseason be any different if it were Ristolainen instead of Carlo? Maybe. But in the sense that they might not have even won a playoff round.