Toronto Maple Leafs Rival Trade Grades

McGroarty for Yager

The Jets traded Rutger McGroarty to the Penguins for Brayden Yager.

Interestingly, each of these players was seleceted 14th overall, McGroarty in 2022 and Yager in 2023. Further investigation shows that this is a pretty fair trade.

The Jets trade a player who, for whatever reason, hadn't signed an entry-level deal with the team that drafted him, while the Penguins trade their top prospect for a guy who is more or less projected to be around the same level and who instantly becomes their new top prospect.

On the surface it seems like a weird trade, but there is actually method to each team's madness. The Jets clearly trade a player they can't use for one they presumably can and are happy with the deal.

The Penguins get a player who is one year older and one year closer to being NHL ready, so they probably come out on top here. I mean, it's useless to try to predict which one of these players will end up having the better career, but the Penguins could use sandpaper and a winger in their current lineup and McGroarty will provide both.

Therefore, because he fits their needs and all it cost them was a similarly ceilinged player who likely couldn't make their roster this season the Penguins get an A.

The Jets didn't get any worse and probably aren't hurting for a winger to make their team this second anyways, so they get an A too. Everybody wins.

Except the Leafs who may or may not even be aware these trades went down! Time to wake up boys!