Opportunity
The Toronto Maple Leafs have tons of time until the trade deadline to try and work something out. Easton Cowan is clearly their best trade chip, and he's enough of one that he can bring back a very big piece that helps the team now. So the opportunity is there if they want it.
From Columbus' perspective, they are one of the NHL's worst teams and they need a few years before they can compete. By that time, Werenski will be in his thirties. Why pay a guy almost ten million per year through a rebuild?
The opportunity to trade for Werenski should be there if the Leafs want it.
So far this seasons, Werenski is posting a fantastic 53% Expected Goals rating when on the ice 5v5 for the Blue Jackets as well as 10 points in 14 games, which is nearly a 60 point pace.
Trading for Werenski would give the Leafs a puck mover for every pairing - Werenski, Rielly, OEL and they would also have an excellent shut-down guy for every pairing in Tanev, McCabe and Hakanpaa.
Acquiring Werenski would take the Leafs from a mid-range 15th ranking among NHL blue-lines to the top five, if not higher. It's hard to think of a better player that they could actually trade for who would probably be available.
The Toronto Maple Leafs should trade for Zach Werenski, their missing piece.