Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Treliving Land These Defenseman

A Third Option for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Jakob Chychrun - Ottawa Senators
A name that has not been out in the media but could be seeing his time come to end in Ottawa is 25-year old Jakob Chychrun.

The Ottawa Senators are having another horrendous season where they look like they will miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

Although the team acquired the sharp shooting defenseman just over nine months ago, the franchise has not been able to make a drive for the playoffs and he has only one more season left of his $4.6 Million contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The only way new general manager Steve Staois even considers the trade is if he feels the team won't be able to sign Chychrun to an extension this summer.

The Florida native has been playing over 20-minutes a night since his sophomore year in 2017-18, while hovering around the 23-minute mark the last four seasons.

Ottawa outbid Toronto when they acquired Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes when they gave up what turned out to be the 12th overall pick last draft, along with a pair of second round picks.

To Toronto: Jakob Chychrun
To Ottawa: Topi Niemelä, 2024 1st Round Pick, 2024 3rd Round Pick (NYI)

Going Forward

If the Leafs could pull off two of these three trades, they would likely be the two biggest impact trades during the Auston Matthews era and might be a pipe dream. Weegar has a full no trade clause, while Hannifin and Chychrun each have ten team no trade clauses, so those details would need to be ironed out.

Treliving may need to include either Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten in one or both of the deals to get it done, but it would put the team as a favourite to come out of the Eastern Conference. If these deals could happen the Maple Leafs are looking at a defense group for the next two season that consists of:
Rielly-Weegar
Chyrchun/Hannifin-Liljegren
McCabe-Benoit

That is a lot better than they currently have, and might just be one of the NHL's best blue-lines, were it to come to fruition.

Treliving has failed at many things as GM for both the Flames and Maple Leafs, but this could turns things around quickly for him.