How to Fix the Toronto Maple Leafs in 3 Easy Trades
By James Tanner
The Leafs now have their goalie, and a top left winger.
The only thing to do now is to improve the blue-line. Their next stop should be for a couple of UFA's from the Calgary Flames.
Elias Lindholm is the perfect 3C for the Maple Leafs. Maybe he's not quite Ryan O'Reilly, but the thinking is similar. Give the team a monster 1-2-3 combo down the middle, making them extremely tough to play against.
Noah Hannifin is big, he can move the puck, and even if he's not a clear-cut #1, he's still going to be, at worst the Leafs second best defenseman.
For this trade to work, Calgary has to retain 50% of the salaries. This means the Leafs would need to move out $5 million..
The Flames will be receiving David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok, which is close enough - $4.5 million - to get the job done.
In terms of assets, this is going to be expensive. Nick Robertson, Topi Niemela and a 2027 first....does that get it done? Probably not. Do you want to win the Stanley Cup? Then keep adding till they accept.
The Leafs shouldn't care at all about trading anything that won't help them win now.
There are always more draft picks and more prospects. You rarely have a chance to be the best team.