Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Rumour: Leafs seeking left winger?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have not made a significant trade since they acquired Ryan O'Reilly at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline.

The Ryan O'Reilly deal was the last big move that Kyle Dubas made as the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and new GM Brad Treliving has gone nearly 15 months without swinging a major deal.

But according to Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs may be gearing up to make a trade. In his most recent article he said the Leafs are "considering left-wing options."

That isn't a lot of information to go on, but it's August, so here goes nothing:

Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Rumour: Leafs seeking left winger?

The Toronto Maple Leafs don't need a winger as far as I can tell, but who knows? In my opinion, Max Domi was so bad as a centre last year and so good as a winger that he will for-sure be on the wing when the season starts.

There is also Matthew Knies, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann. That is seven wingers for six spots. The fourth line has Connor Deward and Ryan Reaves, plus Alex Steeves and whatever other Leafs prospects are going to try for the job.

The Leafs currently have nine wingers for eight spots in total, and they presumably also have Easton Cowan who will play the wing if he makes the NHL this fall. So why are they out there looking to trade for a winger?

Could it be that Robertson isn't coming back and they don't think Cowan will fail to make the team and because Max Dom or Mitch Marner is going to play centre? Even in that case they still figure to have seven wingers before trying out guys like Steeves or Roni Hirvonen.

While the Leafs do appear to need a centre rather than a winger, if they convert Marner to centre or end up sticking with Domi at 3C then it is concievable that they would want to add another scoring winger, especially if the Nick Robertson experiement is over.

But in that case, I would hope that they make a move for a star player. I really liked the idea of adding Patrik Laine, who was traded to Montreal last week, because I do think this team needs at least one more scorer, regardless of position.

Then again, Knies, Robertson, McMann and Cowan might make that uncessary. Given that Friedman didn't mention any names, it's hard to even guess what the Leafs are thinking.