Toronto Maple Leafs: Three John Tavares trade destinations

No. 2: New York Islanders

The Islanders may be strong at centre right now, but imagine the face-turn that Tavares would have if he went back to New York? The fanbase absolutely hates him right now, but if he returned to New York, they would do a 180 and fall back in love with him.

This would be a tough trade to pull off, but the Islanders have two expiring deals that could be in-play. Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmeri are both expring deals who came off a fantastic year, but one of them could be on the table in a Tavares trade. Not only would New York welcome Tavares back, but the acquisition of either Palmeri or Nelson would give the Leafs a much different look.

Both of those players play with more grit, but can also score. They match a style that GM Brad Treliving would prefer to play with and it would bring Tavares back to a place he loved playing. The money gets tricky, so Toronto would potentially have to eat costs, or they'd have to throw in someone like Casey Cizikas, but this would be incredibly intruiging.

If the NHL operated like the NBA, this trade would have probably happened by now but unfortunately the NHL is a much more calm league when it comes to deals. As a result, I doubt anything crazy like this happens, but man it would be an amazing thing to see.