The Toronto Maple Leafs are restarting their season Wednesday night as they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning, but more importantly it also is the first game since the NHL roster freeze has been lifted. And for the Leafs front office, it is going to either mean pushing for the playoffs or selling at the trade deadline.
While most fans, and just about every single person with two eyes that has been watching any Leafs game this season, feel that now is the time for Toronto to take its step back and look toward next season, the team itself does not feel that way and still want some evaluation time.
According to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, the Leafs are going to use the result of their next three games -- visiting the Lightning and Panthers on Wednesday and Thursday and then back home to host the Senators Saturday night -- to determine if they should sell or keep pushing for the playoffs.
Toronto Maple Leafs still unsure about trade deadline strategy
It's not something most Leafs fans really want to hear right now.
"It seems like the Maple Leafs are in a holding pattern for the next three games as they will want to see how they fare against Florida, Tampa Bay and Ottawa before figuring out their strategy," Kypreos wrote. "Bobby McMann is their No. 1 trade candidate, but Toronto's win/loss record will dictate if he, or some of his teammates, are moved."
It feels a little mindbending that the Leafs' front office still feels like there are things to find out about this team. They currently sit six points out of a playoff spot and while that is technically still in the race, they are competing with several teams for that same position. Is there anything that we have seen on the ice that tells us they are ready to compete with the likes of the Senators, the red-hot Blue Jackets, the Bruins, the Sabres, or even the current Panthers? Not really.
Even if they perform better in those three games and are mathematically inching closer towards the playoffs, the end result certainly feels like the Leafs getting pumped in the first round by either the Lightning or the Hurricanes -- if they make it there. The end result of anything, is certainly not going to be the Stanley Cup, so why hold off from selling and making those trades?
Pending free agents Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton could both get returns that push the Leafs' future to being much brighter than it currently is. Throw in another trade of a Simon Benoit, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brandon Carlo, Nick Robertson, or whoever else, and Toronto could really recover some of the assets its recently thrown away.
It just feels like the easiest and most logical thing to do. Three games at the end of February won't change that.