Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been battling with several injuries. At the moment, the Leafs officially have six forwards out of the lineup. Five are unavailable due to injury and one (Ryan Reaves) is suspended. Additionally, depending on the results of the evaluation of Matthew Knies, they may have another on their hands. Knies was on the receiving end of a hard hit by Vegas Golden Knights D-man Zach Whitecloud. After leaving for the dressing room, he did not return to the game. However, aside from Knies, Toronto is without four players who can play centre. Therefore, they might have to resort to a trade to help them.
Toronto’s Centre Depth
Even before all these injuries transpired, there were already talks of the Leafs looking for a centreman. When the Leafs are perfectly healthy, there’s a third-line centre role that’s available. There’s no denying that the Leafs have a number of forwards who could fill in and get the job done on a short-term basis. However, it may be in the team’s best interest to trade for a centre. Lately, Pontus Holmberg or Max Domi have played that role. However, the third line hasn’t been effective with either of them in the middle.
Head coach Craig Berube ideally would like John Tavares to act as the third-line middle-man. He tried to make William Nylander a centre on the second line, but that project didn’t last. There have also been conversations of having Mitch Marner play centre, but nothing official. Although it hasn’t panned out the way Berube may have wanted, it’s not the end of the world. This is because Tavares has upped his game from last season proving he can still play on the second line. The former captain is averaging a point per game in 19 appearances. He also has nine goals, second on the team behind Nylander’s 13. Impressive numbers for the 34-year-old.
Who’s on Toronto’s Radar?
Lucky for the Leafs, there are plenty of options in the trade market for middle-six forwards. Toronto would specifically be interested in a centre but won’t complain if they can play the wing on the second line. James Mirtle of The Athletic and Sportnets’ Luke Fox have provided their inputs and a list of names they believe Toronto should look at. Those names include:
- Brock Nelson (New York Islanders)
- Nazem Kadri (Calgary Flames)
- Ryan O’Reilly (Nashville Predators)
- Mikael Granlund (San Jose Sharks)
- Frank Vatrano (Anaheim Ducks)
- Nick Bjugstad (Utah Hockey Club)
- Yanni Gourde (Seattle Kraken)
- Trent Frederic (Boston Bruins)
- Sean Kuraly (Columbus Blue Jackets)
- Radek Faksa (St. Louis Blues)
Some of those names sound great in theory, but it would be unlikely for them to join for multiple reasons. For example, Leafs fans would love to see Kadri return to the Blue and White. However, his contract makes it nearly impossible to acquire him. The 34-year-old is earning $7M per year for the next four seasons after this campaign. It’s simply unlikely for Toronto to eat that contract, especially when they don’t have much cap space themselves. Another unrealistic option is O’Reilly, who also is an ex-Maple Leaf. It’s not that O’Reilly has a bad contract, it’s more about his feelings toward Toronto. Despite growing up in Ontario, the 33-year-old admitted that he didn’t re-sign because he wasn’t a fan of the attention the Toronto Maple Leafs get from media, fans, etc. Therefore, that wouldn’t be a fantastic acquisition either.
A couple of other players on this list make more sense than the two former Leafs, however, those theories also have flaws. The two players in question are Frederic and Vatrano. Both these forwards are great players in their own right. Vatrano has a great scoring ability and offensive upside. Last season he put up career-high numbers of 37 goals and 60 points. However, chances are he doesn’t fit Berube’s style of play. Toronto’s bench boss likes to play a heavy, north-south game. While Vatrano has his feisty moments, he plays more of an east-west type of game. Therefore the Leafs coach may feel more comfortable with a different option.
As for Frederic, he is a hard-nosed player. He gets in the face of the opposition, is a great forechecker and can put the puck in the net. Although he has great attributes that fit the coach’s preferences, he plays for a division rival the Boston Bruins. Therefore, if the Bruins were willing to give up the 26-year-old at all, chances are they’d want to trade him elsewhere.
Realistic Trade Options For the Leafs
Players such as Nelson, Gourde, and Granlund are much more realistic trade options considering they are in the last years of their contracts. Also, their cap hits aren’t incredibly high. Toronto might not be able to take either of them without some retention, but that’s the norm with trades in today’s game. However, one can imagine that it might be challenging to come through with a deal with the opposing general managers. This is because of the quality of the players and the roles they have with their respective teams. Nelson is the joint-leading goalscorer for the Islanders. And, Granlund leads the Sharks roster in points. Gourde isn’t a point-scorer by any means, but even he has four points in the last five games. With the assets Toronto has, those might be tough deals for Leafs general manager Brad Treliving to pull off.
The most realistic options of the names on the list are Kuraly, Faksa and Bjugstad, specifically the latter two. While Kuraly would be a solid piece to any team, he plays the role of a fourth-line centre. Toronto has that spot covered since David Kampf, Steven Lorentz, Connor Dewar and Holmberg can play there. However, Bjugstad and Faksa can play higher in the lineup.
This is Faksa’s 10th season in the NHL. Since entering the league, he’s been a steady 20-30-point player. However, the 30-year-old’s best quality might be his playoff experience. Before being traded to the St. Louis Blues this offseason, he played nine seasons for the Dallas Stars. His team has gone two back-to-back conference finals and a Stanley Cup final in 2020. He has 79 playoff games under his belt which could help the Leafs if they were to make a deep playoff run.
Despite all these names and trade options listed, Bjugstad might be the best option for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the eyes of Berube. Firstly, Bjugstad has tremendous size, he is 6-foot-6. Also, when Berube tried to convert Nylander into a centre, part of the reason was that the Leafs don’t have a right-handed centreman. However, if Treliving were to call Utah general manager Bill Armstrong and muster up a deal, that would change. Bjugstad would take important D-zone draws on the right face-off dot. Additionally, the 32-year-old has been in a situation as a rental before. In the 2022-23 season, he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in prep for a playoff run. The Oilers went to the second round of those playoffs. Bjugstad scored three goals and won 52% of his face-offs in the postseason.
Main Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
