Maple Leafs should already regret this trade deadline move

The Toronto Maple Leafs approached this year’s NHL trade deadline with a practical mission. The aim was to move all impending UFAs and get as much as they could.

That statement might seem simplistic, but that’s what this year’s trade deadline boiled down to. But there was one deal that didn’t have to happen, but it did. That was sending Bobby McMann to the Seattle Kraken.

The deal didn’t have to happen because the Maple Leafs could have kept McMann. And he wanted to stay. The issue was that the Maple Leafs and McMann were too far apart on a new contract. Needless to say, the club wasn’t comfortable with McMann’s asking price.

Now, you don’t want a guy to fail with his new team. But you don’t exactly want that player to turn into a star elsewhere. However, the latter seems to be the case with McMann. He’s fit seamlessly into the Kraken’s top line, scoring four goals in his first three games.

His six points in three games have pushed him over the top in career highs. That’s something that could have the Maple Leafs already regretting the deal. Sure, the team could have paid him what he wanted. The Leafs didn’t, and, well, it looks like this deal was a mistake, a really big one.

Treliving gets a pass on this Maple Leafs deadline trade

Before anyone jumps to blame Brad Treliving for this deal, the reality is that he gets a pass. McMann was an impending UFA. The Leafs tried to sign him at a number that made sense cap-wise. His camp wanted more, as is the player’s right, and that was something the club just wasn’t comfortable with.

The rest is history.

Treliving got two useful draft picks for McMann, a guy that really didn’t cost the Maple Leafs very much to sign and extend a couple of seasons ago. If this were a stock, Treliving would be looked upon as a genius. He found an underappreciated asset, got it on the cheap, built it up, and sold it off for a nice profit before the market potentially turned on him.

How so?

Suppose the Leafs had extended McMann at whatever price he wanted. Then, it turns out that his performance was an outlier. His numbers drop, and the Leafs are stuck with an albatross.

McMann will get paid this offseason. Even if there’s talk about the Leafs and McMann circling back, that won’t likely happen. The true test of this deal will happen next season. Whether it’s in Seattle or wherever, McMann will have to prove the last two seasons were no flukes.

That’s a heck of a lot of pressure on a guy to perform.