What Moves Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Make?
The Leafs need to take a cautious approach at the trade deadline. Their best opportunity to strengthen their roster will come during the offseason. Remember, the majority of deadline deals are negligible or disastrous.
T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Max Domi, John Klingberg, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Ilya Samsonov will all hit free agency next summer. Treliving and the rest of management can then reset the Leafs roster around the core.
Most of that allotted money can be used to strengthen the Leafs defense. The young prospects can cheaply fill some of the open forward spots, with room to sign a veteran free-agent forward.
For all the attention around trade deadline acquisitions, it's the performance of the Leafs core players that will determine their success in the playoffs.
There are no difference makers available that will significantly increase the Leafs chances of winning the Stanley Cup.
Giving up valuable draft picks or their best prospects to go all-in this season would be a ridiculously short-sighted gamble.
The best move for the Toronto Maple Leafs is to keep their first-round picks, reset the defense during the offseason, and keep their young forwards.
That long-term thinking will make the Leafs even stronger Cup contenders as their stars go through their prime years. Foolishly dismissing future assets on this year's roster is not the way to go.