The Flyers may have the perfect trade target for the Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been looking to stay active and make another acquisition this season, preferably on the blue line.

While there are certainly big names on the market that John Chayka can chase after, the Philadelphia Flyer might have a couple of young defensemen that fit into the Leafs' scheme perfectly. Those players are Jamie Drysdale and Cam York.

Jamie Drysdale and Cam York are perfect Leafs trade targets

Starting with Drysdale, the 24-year-old was involved in the famous Cutter Gauthier saga between the Anaheim Ducks and the Flyers when he was traded from Southern California to Broad Street, along with a 2025 second-round pick.

Despite making his NHL debut back in the 2020-21 season with the Ducks, Drysdale is still a devoping work in progress, now with a decently young Flyers team.

The Toronto native has only three points this season, which includes a goal and two assists, in 15 games played. While Drysdale is not being depended on to score goals, he is averaging 22:50 of ice-time per game, which is second best on the team.

Being able to withstand a chunk of time on ice like that can help the Leafs out a lot, especially since they have been plagued with injuries already this season -- mainly on defense.

Looking at Drysdale's career in general, he has not been too bad on the scoresheet. Last season, he put up 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists) in 74 games played. That ties a career high that was set in the 2021-22 season when he was with the Ducks.

Pivoting to his teammate, York has yet to record a point in seven games played so far in the season. However, the 25-year-old is right behind Drysdale in ice time with an average of 21:17 per game.

Despite the start to York's season being underwhelming, along with missing a few games due to injury, he is still young in the NHL and has a lot of time to develop into a key blueliner in the league.

York's best year in the NHL so far was the 2023-24 season when he tallied 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 82 games played with 134 shots taken. If he can replicate or even exceed that amount for the Leafs, he would be a sneaky addition to the team.

Both defensemen are rarely physical on the ice by throwing hits, but being able to move the puck, as well as get pucks to the net, is good enough and would compliment the Leafs' offensive talent.

Acquiring either player is a stepping stone for the future

The Leafs have a fairly aged core of defensemen on the team who are in or nearing the final stage of their respective careers, so bringing in a new, younger face on the blue line to develop with the other youngsters on the team would benefit Toronto a lot in the coming years.

A couple names that come to mind are Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe who are top defenders, but are all over 30-years-old. While they can still be effective, reshaping the defense with either Drysdale or York will help aid some gaps that will be left when those players leave.

The contract might be the hardest part to figure out as both players will be UFA's in 2030 and currently make cap hit's of $6.5 million (Drysdale) and $5.15 million (York). That is a bit steep considering they have not fully proven themselves yet and both Morgan Rielly and Darren Raddysh are the only Leaf blueliners to make more than the two.

Nonetheless, either Drysdale or York will help add some youth and speed to the Leafs' defense, which would once again give the lineup something it has still been missing and hopefully evolve the two former first-round pick's into being top pairing defensemen.

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