The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for trade partners

The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for trade partners. With defenseman Jani Hakanpaa and forward Connor Dewar close to being removed from long-term injured reserve, the Leafs need to clear some salary cap space.

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently assigned Hakanpaa and Dewar to the Toronto Marlies for a conditioning stint, but the time has come for them to join the main roster. However, the main roster is full, and the Leafs must be cap-compliant when these two return.

On November 2nd, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman speculated that the Leafs could flip their newly acquired defenseman, Matt Benning. Although that is very likely, I think the Leafs could move other players from their roster to improve the team overall. One of those players is forward David Kampf.

David Kampf's first two seasons in Toronto were decent. However, his overall performance declined last season, and it doesn't look much better this season. It doesn't make sense to have a player who makes $2.5 million playing on your fourth line and not producing. He has looked good at times with Steve Lorentz and Ryan Reaves, but so has Pontus Holmberg. Holmberg at $800,000 this season (RFA in the summer) is much cheaper.
(Salary cap information from puckpedia.com)

Toronto Maple Leafs trade partners

A few teams are struggling right now. Whether it's due to injuries or a decline in production from certain players, those teams need to shake things up and could be the perfect trade partner for the Leafs. Two teams that come to mind are the Nashville Predators and the New York Islanders.

Nashville Predators

The Predators, as of Friday morning, have a 4-9-1 record with three straight losses. Predators GM Barry Trotz has stated that if the team continues to fall, he'll be forced to start a rebuild. With $4.72 million in available salary cap space, the Predators could be an easy team to trade with.

If the Leafs are looking to swap Kampf for a replacement, I wouldn't mind the Leafs acquiring Mark Jankowski. He is only slightly older than Kampf, measures in at 6'4, 212 pounds, and makes $800,000 this season and next. (Stats from hockey-reference.com)

New York Islanders

The Islanders aren't struggling as much as the Predators but are still not where they'd like to be in the standings. As of Friday morning, the Islanders were sitting at an even .500% with a 6-6-2 record. Their current cap space is listed at $9 million.

I don't see many players on the Islanders roster that would fit into the Leafs roster unless they went for an absolute blockbuster and traded for Noah Dobson, but that seems unlikely.. However, the Leafs could try to acquire a 4th round pick in the 2025 or 2026 draft.

Those are two picks that the Leafs currently do not own. I think a 4th round pick for either Kampf or Benning is a win for the Leafs should they be unable to find a player who fits into their roster.