As the Toronto Maple Leafs begin their stretch run in the second half of the 2024-25 NHL season, the attention slowly turns toward the NHL trade deadline, which is set for March 7 this year.
There’s no doubt that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to make some moves to bolster their roster in preparation for what they hope will be a long and successful playoff run.
Last year the Leafs did not really do anything at the trade deadline, and it cost them big-time, as they ended up losing by just one goal in the seventh game of the opening round.
But what exactly are the current areas that the Maple Leafs need to seriously address? Let’s take an early look at their checklist that they should complete for the upcoming trade deadline.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Early 2025 Trade Deadline Checklist
Center Depth
Without a question the first thing that comes to mind is adding valuable depth down the middle. With Auston Matthews and John Tavares anchoring the top two lines for the Leafs, there should be no worries there. But beyond that, the Maple Leafs are severely lacking a solid two-way third line center to help spread out the lineup.
Domi for the most part has been a disappointment so far, with just 3 goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 37 games this season, Fraser Minten does not appear to be ready for the NHL, and David Kampf doesn't score enough to be played above the fourth line.
Pontus Holmberg can’t be relied upon either, as he has struggled even more with only 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points in 33 games to date. Rookie Fraser Minten showed some promise during his time up with the Maple Leafs, but he definitely needed a little more growth in his game to take on a full-time role. And if the Leafs need to turn to the likes of David Kampf, Connor Dewar and Steven Lorentz to fill the role, they could be in serious trouble, at least from an offensive standpoint.
As a result, the decision won’t be whether Toronto trades for a centre, it will be between trading for a star or more of a role-player.
Puck-Moving Defenseman
Because the Leafs had looked strong with their defense for much of the season, another area that had probably been overlooked as a result is their ability to generate offense from the back end.
There’s no doubt with the likes of Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe, Simon Benoit, and eventually when healthy, Jani Hakanpaa anchoring their blueline, the Leafs have no shortage of capable defensive defenseman on their roster. However, asking the group to put up some offensive numbers at the same time has become more of a challenge.
The Maple Leafs currently rank in the bottom third of the league with just 73 points from their defensemen. Just for comparison, the top-ranked Colorado Avalanche team has over 40 more points from their defensive corps than Toronto. Morgan Rielly has done his part to help carry the load, but he can only so much over the course of a season.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson started out strong, but has been mainly invisible in recent weeks. As a result, to give the team a more balanced attack both up front and from the blueline, adding a depth offensive defenseman will be crucial for the Leafs success going forward. (All stats from NHL.com and salaries from PuckPedia.com)
And….?
Actually, that’s about it.
Which is great, meaning the Leafs have just a couple of holes to fill to round out their roster for the Stanley Cup playoff run. But of course, there is still a lot of time between now and the trade deadline, so other unexpected needs could eventually surface. Nevertheless, at least the Maple Leafs appear to be sitting in a good spot as of this moment.