The Toronto Maple Leafs are hurtling towards an impending self-off. Insider Elliotte Friedman stated the obvious during the January 31 edition of Saturday Headlines. Toronto will begin selling off and that’s that.
But beyond the evident statement, the Maple Leafs should take advantage of the opportunity to upgrade at one crucial position. In a January 31 piece, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic brought up an interesting point regarding the Leafs’ moving forward.
In particular, Siegel discussed how the Maple Leafs will need to replace Chris Tanev, as he is unlikely to return this season. Moreover, overly relying on Oliver Ekman-Larsson could be a move that might ultimately backfire in the long run.
“The Leafs are unlikely to have Chris Tanev back this season and are relying heavily on 34-year-old Oliver Ekman-Larsson in his absence. Jake McCabe has struggled increasingly without Tanev by his side... Even a minor upgrade would help.”
The biggest question will how the Maple Leafs can go about landing someone to replace Tanev. Before proceeding, I would like to point out that the Tanev is likely done. The Leafs knew there was a risk he wasn’t going to see the end of his contract when they signed him. The hope was that he could play through most of it. But now it seems the end is nigh.
So, the Leafs can dip their toes into the water amid their sell-off and figure out what they could do despite not having much to work with.
Acquiring blueline help is more about next year
At this point, whatever moves the Maple Leafs look to pull off are about next season and beyond. The assumption should be that this season is pretty much done. Still, the sell-off could yield a decent shot at an upgrade.
While said upgrade may not necessarily land in a deadline deal, the Maple Leafs could get the pieces needed for a summer trade. Regardless, the focus should be on finding the pieces needed to offset the loss of Chris Tanev.
Unless the Leafs can suddenly find a shutdown defenseman on the open market at the deadline, the club should just take its time in figuring out the next steps. But throughout begins with getting the pieces needed to make a splash as part of a concerted retool.