One trade target for the Maple Leafs on every team that could potentially be a deadline seller

With the trade deadline fast approaching, and little news out of the Leafs other than the fact that they are looking at anyone who has ever taken a faceoff as a potential third-line centre, it seems like it is a good time to do a bit of window shopping on behalf of Brad Treliving.

And while it is hard to identify who is specifically a seller because you could have a team that seems something in their upcoming schedule that sparks some optimism, or perhaps an upward trend of late that leads them to believe a late playoff push is possible, or you could potentially see a team like the Bruins that sees the writing on the wall and knows how the next few years will go if they cling to scraps and are ready to cash out on roster pieces now. There is no 100% seller list, but for argument’s sake we’ll say that heading into games played on February 25th, if you are under 60 points, your team is out of the race.

Armed with a shopping list of a centre who is an upgrade offensively over David Kampf and better defensively than Max Domi, as well as a defenceman who is an upgrade over Oliver Ekman-Larsson as the parameters, here are the prime targets on each likely selling team heading into the trade deadline.

Anaheim: The Ducks are a terrible team to start off with because while they have plenty of options, not many of them are good. A case could be made for Ryan Strome at centre but the Leafs adding yet another 30+ year-old to their longer-term commitments isn’t ideal. Zegras is interesting but doesn’t address the team’s defence needs and that likely leaves defensive rental Brian Dumoulin as the best option.

Dumoulin is a rental and at 33 years old, he’s best kept that way, but he is capable of being that 4/5 option alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson that allows improvement of the Leafs blueline. The shortcoming here is that he’s a left shot instead of a right but that’s not the end of the world and the rental price is probably too high for the Leafs.

Buffalo: Counter to the Ducks, the Sabres are a team the Leafs should be looking to shop. It’s just a matter of how enthusiastic the Sabres would be to deal with a young asset with the potential to burn them for the next decade within the division. If the price is right, the Sabres have two strong options with Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram that the Leafs should be interested in, and it would take a coin flip to land on Bowen Byram as the preferred option.

Byram adds speed, youth, and a heavier point shot than what Toronto currently deploys on the power play. His contract is also a lot easier to fit into the Leafs’ cap situation as the long-term $7.1M commitment to Cozens makes salary retention a lot less likely.

Chicago: Connor Murphy has spent the better part of his career being targeted by Leafs fans and the tradition might as well continue. With another year after this one committed at $4.4M, it is worth noting the Blackhawks could retain beyond this season as they did for Jake McCabe. The catch here is that they would likely want to use their retention spot on Seth Jones, a player the Leafs should not be considering despite being actively shopped.

Murphy seems like an ideal fit next to Morgan Rielly and creates a pretty trustworthy blueline.

Montreal: Bringing home Jake Evans seems like a bit of a no-brainer here. He might not be a third-line centre that is capable of pushing for time on the top two lines but he is very much someone the Leafs can trust in that third-line capacity, being defensively sound and not stifling offence.

The Canadiens and Leafs hooking up on a trade is not unheard of and this looks a lot more appealing than the Tomas Plekanec acquisition.

Nashville: One of the top targets for the Maple Leafs heading into the trade deadline should be Ryan O’Reilly. Acknowledging that the Leafs’ roster getting substantially older and slower in the past few seasons and O’Reilly doing nothing to help that, it’s pretty clear that the team-friendly term and contract, familiarity, and spot-on fit to the desired archetype of player make targeting O’Reilly a no brainer even when the issues around age and speed are equally clear.

NY Islanders: Pierre Engv… just kidding. Brock Nelson and J.G. Pageau are both equally compelling cases and Lou Lamoriello’s intentions heading into the trade deadline are unclear. It’s entirely possible that Lou sees the playoffs as the only way he’s still the GM next season and the Islanders aren’t sellers at all. It’s also entirely possible that Lou is low-key taking calls on Noah Dobson, which it would be nice if Brad Treliving is at least sniffing around that option.

Despite generally preferring term to rentals, Brock Nelson’s short-term benefit makes him the better target over Pageau. If he can play at a 30-goal scorer form even briefly this spring it will have a greater impact for the Leafs. It may be unlikely that Nelson will re-sign in Toronto, but he could be a true rental that pushes Toronto over the top when it matters most.

Philadelphia: Scott Laughton is a good player. He would make the Leafs’ bottom-six forward group better, maybe not by a lot, but definitely better. Laughton is the likely target if there is one the Flyers, but the less likely options are far more appealing.

Is it possible for the Leafs to throw an absolute ransom at the Flyers for Travis Sanheim? Travis Konecny? Pretty much just give the Leafs someone named Travis with a cheesesteak in their hands. This would be the ideal option for the Leafs and put them in great shape and even if Konecny isn’t a centre, the presence of another strong winger might bail out the underwhelming 3C option Toronto would settle on.

Alas, that’s unlikely as the Flyers do want to win eventually, so I’ll float the idea of Sean Couturier. This is strictly a garbage in/garbage out type of move, where if the Leafs can shed some shorter-term bad contracts and get a bit of salary retention on Couturier, he might be a strong option for Toronto in the postseason.

On second thought, double back to see what it would take to land Konecny.

Pittsburgh: It’s hard to imagine the Penguins and Leafs hooking up at the deadline, but desperate times for both might make it a necessity. Other than a 50 percent retained Erik Karlsson, it doesn’t seem like there is anything likely here.

St. Louis: While Brayden Schenn might be the most plausible option and checks a lot of similar boxes to Ryan O’Reilly with nearly identical shortcomings as well, you can blame Justin Bourne for the suggestion that Colton Parayko is who the Leafs should target.

The blueline upgrade would be huge (both in size and talent), and the past with Craig Berube and Mike Van Ryn is worth factoring into the interest as well.

The catch is that out of Parayko, Krug, and Faulk, Parayko is the one the Blues likely want to keep and the fact that the full no-trade clauses for Krug and Faulk turn into 15-team no-trade lists this summer, they might be patient and not rush into a deal they don’t want to make.

San Jose: Honestly the ideal use of the Sharks would be to dump salary here and run. That doesn’t really fit with the spirit of this though, so Mario Ferraro probably gets named here by default.

Ferraro would be a very useable defenceman for the Leafs and his cap hit next season would keep the good times rolling. Luke Kunin might be a centre option as well, but with a $2.75M cap hit and the Sharks not being able to retain any more salary, that is a lot for someone who is “different” than Max Domi and David Kampf than a clear upgrade on them.

The Sharks make sense from a “maybe they really like Nick Robertson” perspective and Robertson packaged with a higher-salary player for someone like Ferraro or Kunin would work for the Leafs, at least.

Seattle: Yanni Gourde’s sports hernia injury seems like a deja vu type situation to the Nick Foligno acquisition by the Leafs during the North Division season. The fact that they are nearly identical types of players doesn’t hurt either. Needless to say, Yanni Gourde isn’t the target in Seattle. Jamie Oleksiak wouldn’t be a bad option, but righting a wrong and actually getting Jared McCann in a Leafs uniform is a swing-for-the-fences move that everyone can enjoy.

With all due respect to O’Reilly and Schenn, who are both good options for the Leafs, McCann would be a bit more like O’Reilly and Schenn in their primes, and McCann being under contract at the insanely reasonable cap hit of $5M AAV for two seasons beyond this one makes him a dream target for making the most of the Leafs best competitive window.

Throwing the name Easton Cowan around in trade speculation is dangerous, but Jared McCann is the first name on this list where it at least seems worth entertaining. Of course, you still hope it wouldn’t come to that.

Utah: What the Utah Hockey Club is thinking as far as the direction they are going in is unclear. There are a lot of good pieces on their team worth making a call about. Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz, and Jack McBain all seem like interesting centre options if they are available. Nick Bjugstad seems like the rental option the Leafs will settle on in a worst-case scenario.

The amount of cap space that can be dumped in Utah has a lot of appeal, but the Maple Leafs’ no-trade clauses could make that difficult.

Maybe it’s because they are the last team on the list and this needs to be wrapped up that this is an uninspired suggestion, but Olli Maatta might make the most sense. He’s not an upgrade on Oliver Ekman-Larsson but he is an upgrade to the bottom pairing and is versatile enough to excel in the more sheltered role the Leafs would be using him in. With 50% retention, he’d be the kind of player you’d say, “Okay, not bad” about when the deal is announced twenty minutes after the deadline closed.