The Toronto Maple Leafs top 3 trade chips heading into the 2024-25 NHL season
Who could the Maple Leafs potentially use in trades to upgrade the team over the course of the season?
The Toronto Maple Leafs had been very active during the offseason in retooling the team for the 2024-25 NHL season. They had made various changes both at the player and management level, with hopes to give the team the best chances at competing for the Stanley Cup.
But with still a full NHL schedule left to play through, more moves will likely take place in-season for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they work to fine tune their roster in preparation for the grueling run in the playoffs.
If any of those potential moves were to happen, they would likely come in the form of a trade, rather than just strictly on player free agent signings.
In such cases, what would the Maple Leafs have available throughout the season as their key assets that they could use for any possible trade transactions?
The Toronto Maple Leafs top 3 trade chips heading into the 2024-25 NHL season
Here, we take a closer look at the Leafs top three trade chips that they currently have that they could use to help upgrade the team over the course of the 2024-25 NHL season.
For the purpose of this article, those pieces could include both future draft picks and actual players and/or prospects.
Trade Chip #1: 2026 First-Round Pick
For any rebuilding team that would be willing to give up a premium player to a contender, one of the key assets that they would usually ask for in return would be in the form of a draft pick.
In particular, the prized first-round pick is usually the one that ends up getting sacrificed to get back any true value for the contender.
As perennial contenders since the start of the Auston Matthews era, the Maple Leafs haven’t kept their own first-round pick to use in the draft since selecting Timothy Liljegren back in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. They have, however, done a good job of getting other team's first round picks (Rodion Amirov, Rasmus Sandin, Easton Cowan and Ben Danford) as well as doing a decent job picking in the second round (Fraser Minten, Nick Robertson, Matthew Knies).
The Leafs have had to trade their picks because they have often used it as their main trade chip to recruit top quality players for their playoff run. That trend will likely continue as long as the Leafs contention window remains open.
The fact they keep getting other team's lower picks has really helped them spit the difference, and create a situation where they now have a lot of good young players ready to suppor the core.
Their 2025 first-round pick already gone to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Jake McCabe/Sam Lafferty trade, the Leafs will have their 2026 first-round pick as their main ammo to use for any potential top trade transaction this coming season. Of note is the fact that the 2025 first-round pick that they traded is top 10 protected. But with the Leafs likely a playoff contender once again this year, they will most likely be beyond the top ten spots in the draft, thus assuring that the pick will likely be with the Blackhawks.
Trade Chip #2: Fraser Minten
If rebuilding teams weren’t looking for draft picks, the next likely asset they would pursue from contenders would usually be high-end prospects in the system.
Despite trading many of their early round draft picks in the past few seasons, the Maple Leafs have still managed to uncover many unexpected gems with their limited number of picks. In particular, the likes of Matthew Knies, Topi Niemela, Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten all come to mind.
Knies has become a regular fixture in the Leafs everyday lineup already and likely won’t be moved. Niemela hasn’t fully developed his defensive game just yet, so prospective teams may be still skeptical of his value. Cowan definitely would attract the eyes of many, but his potential is currently too great right now for the Leafs to give up on so soon.
As a result, of all of the Maple Leafs top prospects, Minten becomes the most viable trade option the club can use when it comes to prospects in their system. He made his NHL debut with the Leafs last season, getting into four games before being sent back to the WHL for more seasoning.
He would go on to produce a solid season with the Saskatoon Blades and looks to challenge once again for a roster spot this upcoming season. However, his potential is yet to be known given he didn’t have the breakout season like Cowan had.
As a result, with the emergence of the rapidly-rising Cowan, it has made Minten expendable if the Leafs needed to use a top-end prospect to get any deal done.
Trade Chip #3: Jake McCabe
This one could be a little perplexing to some. After all, Jake McCabe had put together his best season in the NHL to date last year with the Leafs when he put up 8 goals, 20 assists for 28 points in 73 games played.
In addition, he has held his own as well in the defensive end, while maintaining a CF% of greater than 50% in 5-on-5 situations during his tenure with Toronto thus far. So why would he be a valuable trade chip to use?
That’s because the Leafs should fully capitalize on McCabe’s value while it’s at its highest right at this moment. With his contract set to expire following the 2024-25 season, he will no doubt get a huge bump in salary for his next contract, one that the Leafs probably cannot do because of already existing commitments to three other defenseman who are older than McCabe.
So rather than losing McCabe for nothing, they could get back some of that value if he used in a trade. Not only that, his current $2 million AAV contract as a result of the Blackhawks retaining 50% of his salary makes him an easily movable piece. (All stats from NHL.com and naturalstattrick.com, salaries from PuckPedia.com)
In addition, prior to joining Toronto, McCabe never amassed more than 4 goals and 22 points in a season. Nor has he ever posted a CF% greater than 51% and xG% greater than 50% in 5-on-5 situations other than his outlier 2020-21 season where his stats were skewed due to appearing in just 13 games.
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Hence, there is a very good chance that McCabe already had his best season and it would be smart to move on from him at this exact point. Further making this a good move in the Leafs favor is that McCabe - while a valuable addition to the team - isn't a star player and thus he wouldn't be that hard to replace internally.