The Toronto Maple Leafs seem to still “need to figure out” the market, as the 4 Nations Face-Off concludes on Thursday, the NHL returns from its short vacation on Saturday, and the trade deadline is less than three weeks away.
However, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic thinks the Toronto Maple Leafs need to make a bold move before March 7 and cannot afford to be cautious before the trade deadline. Siegel cautioned that last year’s cautious actions didn’t have much of an effect in the playoffs and pushed Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving to adopt a more aggressive strategy.
The Leafs made four moves ahead of last year’s deadline,” Siegel wrote. “Six picks in all were spent… but (the acquired players) had only marginal impact in the postseason. “If not now, when?” Siegel asked, arguing the Leafs must make a serious push for a championship. “They need a splash.”
Ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, the Maple Leafs acquired defensemen Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmunson, as well as forward Connor Dewar.
Even then, and although they didn’t send impact players the other way in any of those trades, Toronto still fell in the first round of the playoffs. Siegel argues that center depth remains a glaring issue across the roster, something Treliving has acknowledged to be trying to fix ahead of the deadline.
The Leafs entered the season knowing they needed a more stout option behind Auston Matthews and John Tavares,” Siegel wrote. “None of the players who’ve served in the middle of the third line have made any impact and, more crucially, would be woefully under-matched in the playoffs.”
More interestingly, Siegel notes the trade market is limited and the Leafs lack many tradeable assets if they’re not open to move top prospects or picks for real impact players.
Keep all of the best goodies off limits, on the other hand, and the Leafs will be limited to acquiring the same kind of marginal talent-third- and fourth-liners, third-pairing defencemen-as last spring,” Siegel wrote.
That feeling has already been expressed by other analysts such as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who wrote on Feb. 6 that Toronto “might not be able to shoot as high as a 2C” because the franchise lacks a 2025 first-round pick to trade away.
Fellow analyst Justin Bourne, however, expects Toronto to trade at least one of their top prospects (Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten), aligning with Siegel’s thoughts about what the Maple Leafs will need to do to land a top-tier player.
(The Maple Leafs) don’t have a ton of assets, but to acquire a real player they’ll have to give someone up,” Bourne wrote. The Maple Leafs will return from the break sitting second in the Atlantic division boasting a 33-20-2 record and 68 points, tied for the fourth-most in the Eastern Conference.
“The path to the Stanley Cup Final isn’t as daunting as it’s been,” Siegel wrote. “Make a serious addition or two (or three) and the Leafs might be able to nudge their way above the competition and make a real run at this thing.”
