The Toronto Maple Leafs should make a big trade with the struggling Predators

The Nashville Predators are in a tailspin right now and the Toronto Maple Leafs need to capitalize on this. It's always funny how the loudest team in the offseason is always the quiestest one during the regular season. No matter the sport, this happens every year where an organization who makes a ton of moves, is all of a sudden a bottom-feeder.

The Toronto Blue Jays went through this during the 2013 season when they made a ton of acquisitions and were set to be World Series favorites, but flopped immediately and missed the playoffs.

If you need to make that many big moves to improve your roster, it typically means you don't have a good roster to begin with, so getting all of those new players to gel immediately is tough. It's why the Toronto Maple Leafs have been so good for the past decade, because they've kept the same core who know how to win (in the regular season) and instead make small moves around them.

Predators GM Barry Trotz has "pondered a rebuild" after this terrible start, which means anything could be on the table for the struggling franchise. Depsite signing big names such as Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O'Reilly, Brady Skjei and Jusse Saros over the past two years, it feels like any of these players could be moved.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should make a big trade with the struggling Predators

So, if you're the Leafs, what do you do? Do you go after one of the big boy's and help make the Predators more flexible against the salary cap, or take on a smaller contract that helps spark a change in the Predators dressing room?

Personally, if I'm Brad Treliving, I'm calling Trotz immediately and am going after these two players specifically: Ryan O'Reilly and Colton Sissons.

The Leafs need depth, specifically at centre and could use O'Reilly and Sissons' services immediately. O'Reilly would be the perfect player to come back, especially after he failed to re-sign in Toronto in July, 2023. However, he may still want to stay in Nashville despite the losing, as this is what he said when asked about why he signed in Nashville

"I do like it here in that sense where you can fly under the radar and I can take my kid to hockey...Still people know (who I am), but I can be there and engage with him more. It’s something that at this point in my career I think I enjoy that and am able to have with him," said O'Reilly (via: The Hockey News)

If O'Reilly wouldn't be willing to move back to Toronto and chase another Stanley Cup in his home province, Sissons is another great option, as he only makes $2.8M and is under contract until 2026. His stats aren't amazing but he's a right-handed centre who can score 15 goals a season and be a great depth addition at 3C.

If either O'Reilly or Sissons joined the team, you could get really creative with your lines, as I'd personally love to see something like this:

First Line: Matthew Knies/Auston Matthews/Mitch Marner
Second Line: Max Domi/Colton Sissons or Ryan O'Reilly/William Nylander
Third Line: Max Pacioretty/John Tavares/Nicholas Robertson
Fourth Line: Bobby McMann/David Kampf/Steven Lorentz

Pushing Domi to the wing as the key playmaker for Nylander would be an incredible combination and would really help the depth of this roster. You'd all of a sudden have four lines who can all score, which is something they're currently missing.

The Leafs are very close to being a Stanley Cup contender and one big trade with Nashville could really help change things.