The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t hit the panic button on the season yet, but they might not be too far off.
Heading into Thursday’s games, the Leafs are sitting 15th in the Eastern Conference, and tied with the Vancouver Canucks for 27th in the entire NHL.
The saving grace for Toronto is that they’re still scoring plenty of goals, as their 70 on the season ranks fifth league-wide. But given that their 74 goals allowed ranks fourth-most in the league, it’s not hard to see why they’ve been struggling to keep the pace of many recent seasons.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in a 32 Thoughts column on Thursday that Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is looking to improve his roster, and is willing to give up just about anyone should a trade benefit the team.
“They do not want to trade futures (include Easton Cowan in that),” Friedman wrote. “They will listen to anyone not named [Auston] Matthews, [William] Nylander, [Matthew] Knies or John Tavares.”
The names listed as pseudo-untouchables shouldn’t be all that surprising, but there is at least one notable omission: defenceman Morgan Rielly, who has spent his entire career with Toronto since being drafted fifth overall in 2012.
But Rielly’s contract might be enough of a challenge to move on its own, even if there were willing suitors. Rielly is in the middle of an eight-year deal worth $7.5 million per season that runs through 2029-30, and has a full no-move clause through 2027-28.
In any case, if the Leafs aren’t able to start stringing together a few more wins, don’t expect the trade noise to die down anytime soon.
Lead photo by
Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images
