The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly leaning towards becoming sellers at the trade deadline, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
“I think you’ll see talks about Toronto’s players intensify,” he said during Friday’s episode of 32 Thoughts The Podcast. “I don’t know if you’ll see anything major before the Olympic freeze, which is on Wednesday. But I definitely think you’re going to start to hear a lot more Toronto names get out there, more than you would have expected this year. I don’t think we’re too far away from that. I think they’re going to put a lot of guys out there and just kind of see what the market is for them.”
The Leafs are coming off their sixth straight loss, falling 5-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and finding themselves 10 points back of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. While they are not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention just yet, it is becoming painfully obvious that the Leafs are set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2016 and it would be in their best interest to start seriously considering selling off assets.
There are plenty of assets that the Leafs could dangle on the market to kickstart a retool on the fly. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is having a renaissance year and should easily fetch a first-round pick if he is made available. Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton could be an ideal rental for contenders to target, especially with them being at just over a million each. While the Brandon Carlo trade has not panned out, they could redeem themselves with a second trade to get back some assets lost.
That’s only scratching the surface of what the Leafs could ship between now and the March 6th deadline, but they could set themselves up nicely to get back in contention next season if they play their cards right with this retool. Whether that be GM Brad Treliving or someone else navigating the fire sale, this disastrous season could have a silver lining in the weeks ahead.
It is no longer a question of if the Leafs will be sellers at the deadline, but instead who will be the first player that is shipped out of Toronto to the highest bidder.
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