Minnesota Wild
To Minnesota: Mitch Marner
To Toronto: Brock Faber and 2025 first round pick
Just like the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Minnesota Wild had expressed interest in the past with acquiring Marner as Barnaby reported that they had presented the winger with an offer sheet back in 2019.
When you add in that Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerein and Brad Treliving have already swapped players recently when the Maple Leafs acquired Connor Dewar at this past trade deadline and you have a pair that could put together another trade.
The main piece the Maple Leafs would go after Brock Faber who was the main piece acquired from the Los Angeles Kings two summers ago from the Los Angeles Kings that sent Kevin Fiala to California.
Drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft, Faber is proving to be an excellent pick that should have gone much higher in the draft. Did we mention that he was college teammates with Matthew Knies at the University of Minnesota for two seasons.
Faber is a 6'1" right handed shot defenseman that is not overly physical, but has a lot of attributes that the Maple Leafs are missing on the back end. A legit top four defenseman, shoots from the right, can move the puck, quarterback a powerplay and also play on the penalty kill.
The Minnesota native averaged just under 25-minutes a night this past year which was his rookie season while leading the blue line in powerplay time and being on the second penalty kill unit. He would finish with 47-points on the season, with 16 of those coming with the man advantage.
Not only can he move the puck, Faber can get in lanes and finished second on his team in blocked shots with 150.
With Marner, the Wild will be able to have a dynamic duo on the wings and can pair him with Kirill Kaprizov in an attempt to create the same offence he had with Auston Matthews.