There have been different reports regarding available Pittsburgh Penguins right now, but the Toronto Maple Leafs should try and make a splash.
As it currently stands, the 2025-26 Leafs are looking a lot like the 2024-25 version, minus Mitch Marner. Losing an 100-point player can drastically change a roster, but when you have multiple 30-goal scorers on the roster, including a Hart and Rocket Richard Trophy winner in Auston Matthews, your offense should be fine.
Despite the forward group looking "fine" right now, it still needs to improve. If you look at it's current top-nine, it's good, but a little scary. Newly acquired Matias Maccelli looks like he'll be given an opportunity to play alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, while John Tavares could be back beside William Nylander and Bobby McMann. As for the third-line, it'll be a combination of Max Domi, Nic Roy, Scott Laughton, Easton Cowan and/or Calle Jarnkrok.
In a vacuum, that top-nine is not good enough to win a championship, especially in a division against Tampa Bay and Florida. However, the Leafs could look to Pittsburgh for either Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell to drastically improve thier roster.
It feels like Rakell has been rumored to the Leafs for 20 years, while Rust's name is new to rumours. WIth both players making essentially $5M AAV until 2028, they could be great additions to the Leafs line-up. Toronto currently has $4.9M in cap-space, but could shed another $9.6M if they let go Max Domi, Ryan Reaves, Calle Jarnkrok and/or David Kampf.
I'm not sure what it would take for Penguins GM Kyle Dubas to let both Rakell and Rust walk away, but I feel like a B-level prospect, future draft pick and/or roster player could do the trick for one of them. Acquiring both of these players isn't neccesarry, but getting one of either Rust or Rakell would be a huge benefit to the top-nine of this line-up.
Leafs should look at adding Rust or Rakell
Rakell is coming off a career-high 35 goals, which is scary, because you don't want to buy too high, but he's a little more intriguing than Rust because of his ability to play centre. Rakell typically plays wing, but he's played centre before, so a rotation of him and John Tavares at 3C could be a nice benefit for Toronto.
If the Leafs preferred to stick to more of a workhorse who might remind fans of Zach Hyman, Rust could be that guy. With six straight 20-goal seasons, Rust always seems to find the dirty areas to score and is someone who has been known to perform well playing alongside Sidney Crosby.
It's not as easy as it sounds to play beside the best player in the world, so if Rust joined Toronto, he could fit perfectly beside Matthews, as he knows what to do playing with the best of the best. Knies-Matthews-Rust would be such a tough line to play against and those three players could compliment each other greatly.
As much as people are raving about Matias Maccelli, I would rather see him play third-line wing and would prefer someone more reliable like Rust, especially at a "cheap" $5.1M AAV. Locked in for the next three years, there's chance that his deal could look like one of the biggest bargains in the NHL, especailly if he was paired beside Matthews.
I think Rust's consistency, his ability to play beside Crosby and two Stanley Cup ring's make me a better choice than Rakell, so I would love to see Dubas make a trade with his former club. His contract is very affordable and in my opinion, he'd be a perfect addition.