The Toronto Maple Leafs have been an offensive powerhouse in the NHL for the better part of six years. The core four of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares have all produced for the team to get them to the playoffs; however, once there, the team struggles defensively. Fast forward to this season, and the Maple Leafs are in the exact same situation: their stars are producing, and the team is sputtering defensively.
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However, the team does have a fix, but it may not be the most popular one. Nylander is on an expiring contract and could be pricing himself out based on his offseason dominance. They could hypothetically use Nylander as a trade chip to address other needs on their team, such as defence and goaltending. If they could pull this off, it would be considered the biggest trade in the last decade, other than the Calgary Flames/Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk trade. What is the correlation between these two trades? The Maple Leafs’ general manager (GM) Brad Treliving would be responsible for two of the biggest trades in recent memory.
Treliving Needs to Explore Nylander Trade
Treliving has shown in the past that he likes to build his team around the blue line, and that is what he needs to do this season. The Maple Leafs’ blue line has been atrocious this season, and if he can find a way to rebuild it through trade, it could truly help the team down the stretch and into the playoffs. The best chance he has to redo the team’s defence core is by potentially parting ways with a star player like Nylander.
As mentioned before, he is on an expiring contract and could be pricing himself out of Toronto with his performance so far this season. If by the NHL trade deadline on March 8, 2024, if they don’t have a new contract in place, it could be the best option for Treliving to explore the market.
Maple Leafs Need Defence, Desperately
Trying to predict a blockbuster trade is extremely difficult, especially with Nylander having a modified no-trade clause. Instead, we will look at a potential team where the Maple Leafs could trade Nylander for a number-one defenceman. It isn’t likely that Nylander would waive his no-trade clause for a team that isn’t in the hunt for the playoffs. Thankfully for the Maple Leafs, he can only provide 10 teams to which he can’t be traded, which helps Treliving and the Maple Leafs. Toronto isn’t also likely to acquire a player like Miro Heiskanen from the Dallas Stars since he is a valued asset to their organization.
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This could force Treliving to acquire more than one defence and even a forward in return for Nylander if a trade was agreed upon. It is also a no-brainer that the Maple Leafs will look at the 21 other teams that aren’t on his list so that they can maximize their return without Nylander vetoing the trade.
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames would be a team that should be of interest to the Maple Leafs. They have a very good blue line on paper; unfortunately, it isn’t working well, but that doesn’t mean these players won’t work with the Maple Leafs. The benefit to the Flames is that the aforementioned Treliving was their GM there for nine seasons, so he would be familiar with most of the players. There isn’t one true number-one defenceman on the Flames, so this would be a team that the Maple Leafs should try and receive a defenceman or two from. One name that comes to mind is MacKenzie Weegar. He has a full no-trade clause, which means he would need to agree to waive it to allow the trade to happen.
Regardless, the reason why Weegar would be a good fit is that he is a right-handed shot who could provide Rielly with the support on the right side that he truly hasn’t had since he started his career. Throughout his career, Weegar has scored 35–45 points per season and averaged over 100 hits each year. He has played at least 50 games in a season. Aside from Weegar, another player that the Maple Leafs could acquire in a trade for Nylander is Nikita Zadorov. He would be an add-on to the deal with a bigger blue line. Zadorov would provide the team with exactly what they need: a very big, very physical blue liner. He can score 15-20 points per season, throw 175-225 hits, and play 16–18 minutes per night. He could fit in a pairing alongside Timothy Liljegren as a shutdown duo. This would also allow Liljegren to play a bit more of an offensive game.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are another team that could be of interest if Nylander was made available in the open market. They are a team that seems to be interested in every big-name player that is available, and they have a few names on the backend that could help the Maple Leafs. A trade between these two teams would have a lot of moving parts to make the money work and to include all the extra pieces to get both sides to agree on the trade. Nevertheless, let’s look at a few names that could be of interest to the Maple Leafs. Jaccob Slavin is the first name that stands out on their roster. He is a very good defenceman, who can be relied on to make the easy play and shut down other teams’ top lines. He can produce 25–35 points per season. He doesn’t hit a ton but can still give you 50 hits, and his strength is blocking shots. He blocks anywhere from 120 to 160 shots a season, which would help the Maple Leafs a lot on their penalty kill (PK).
Slavin is also very disciplined. He has been in the top five in the Lady Byng Trophy (the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability) voting, and he won the trophy in 2020–21. Slavin is also signed for $5.3 million for the next two seasons. Another name that could be of interest to the Maple Leafs is Teuvo Teräväinen. He is on expiring deals, could be expandable and could be an add-on to this deal with other pieces being moved from Toronto along with Nylander. Teräväinen could replace some of Nylander’s offensive production with 50–60 points per season and could be a cheaper option to re-sign for the second line than Nylander’s new deal would be.
I hope that Nylander and the Maple Leafs can find a way to reach a new deal to keep him around Toronto long-term. However, if they can’t, the trade deadline is approaching, and the team needs support on the back end, then he could be the franchise-altering trade chip that could finally help build the Maple Leafs blue line properly.
