The Toronto Maple Leafs fans are probably like fans of all other teams, but I don't interact daily with those guys as much.
One thing that has certainly surprised me about the Toronto Maple Leafs discourse lately is the amount of people who are hyper-attached to theoretical assets. There are people out there every day who tell me that this guy or that guy is "untouchable."
Like, sorry, what are you talking about?
This team has gone sixty years without a Stanley Cup and they have a generational player in his prime. There should be no considerations about anything but winning right now. Every single player, draft pick or prospect that could feasibly considered in a trade should be on the table.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Have No Untouchable Assets
The Maple Leafs are obviously not going to trade Auston Matthews or William Nylander. Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe and Morgan Rielly (No Movement Clause) aren't going anywhere, and nothing is going to happen with the goalies. Mitch Marner and John Tavares are unlikely to be traded, but under the right circumstances it should at least be considered.
Everyone else should be on the table.
Matthews Knies is shooting 24% and is the exact type of player every NHL GM massively overrates. Trading him makes a lot of sense.
The Leafs should be actively shopping Easton Cowan. Falling in love with a prospect when you're on the verge of winning is crazy. Especially if you are stacked at forward and have 4 x elite ones on your current roster.
Fraser Minten? Trade him. His ceiling is the third line of a good team and we're afraid to move him? That's bonkers !
Every single draft pick should be moved. You know who has no draft picks lately? Tampa and Florida and Pittsburgh....now what do those teams have in common?
In case you forget, it's that they all won Stanley Cups with their current cores and they did it by trading pretty much every draft pick they had. It's how good teams win.
The fact that the Leafs even drafted in the first round in the last two years (Danford, Cowan) is ridiculous. Those picks should have been used to try and win. Since the Leafs came extremely close to winning the series' they ultimately lost in both of those years, you could argue that the Leafs reluctance to part with first rounders has been their undoing.
In the NHL, first round picks are incredibly overvalued as trade assets, so it's almost always correct to trade them. The fact that the Leafs lost in OT in the 7th game of their last playoff series and kept their pick should be outrage to every and player on the team. Brad Treliving cannot make the same mistake again.
Every single player, prospect and pick should be on the table. The Leafs need to add a star and nothing short of that is acceptable.