Since the Toronto Maple Leafs were in the Core Four era they have continuously made deals for supporting cast players instead of landing a big fish which has caused them to waste away several draft picks, including first rounders. All of these trades has led to one playoff series win and what management needs to do now is go after a true star to jump into the line-up.
The biggest area of need for the Toronto Maple Leafs is a middle six center and an elite defenseman, preferably a right hand shot. The player that should be number one on their trade list is former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox of the New York Rangers.
This isn't to say the Rangers would be willing to move on from their star defenseman who still has two-years left on his contract after this season at a modest cap hit of $9.5 million, but general manager Brad Treliving needs to explore that option.
As far as upgrades go, it would be hard to find a bigger one than Adam Fox.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Make Trading for Adam Fox Priority #1
New York is currently in the middle of a completely unexpected horrendous season as they currently sit seven points back of a Wild Card spot and would have to leap frog six other teams to get into the playoffs. To make matters worse, it was announced on December 31 that star goalie Igor Shesterkin was going on the injured reserve, which now puts the elder Jonathan Quick as the starting goalie for the foreseeable future. Add in that the team has already shipped out Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko, along with the decline of players like Chris Krieder and you may see a Rangers retool.
Fox, who won the Norris Trophy in his sophomore season in 2020-21, currently leads the Rangers in assists (27) and sits second in points behind Artemi Panarin.
He has been averaging over 23-minutes a night for the fifth straight season and has eclipsed 27-minutes twice already this season. He would instantly make the Leafs a much better 5v5 team, and push every one of their defenseman down one spot in the lineup.
With an elite defenseman now in the fold, the Leafs blue-line would jump from middle-of-the-pack to the top-of-the-league.
Fox would also give the Maple Leafs powerplay a huge kickstart as it looks abysmal with Morgan Rielly quarterbacking it. Fox is coming off three straight 70+ point seasons which has been helped by collecting 30+ powerplay points in each of those seasons.
The cost to acquire Fox would likely start with either Fraser Minten or Easton Cowan (if not both), along with a first round pick and an additional prospect. While the cost would be a lot, this type of trade is exactly what the franchise needs which would be finally getting a legitimate number one defenseman to play with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander; and it would be for multiple seasons.