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Maple Leafs Willing to Trade Current Player For Big Deadline Deal

Reports are that Kyle Dubas will get creative at this year’s trade deadline and could move an active roster player to land a big name.

According to Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, while doing a guest hit on NHL Network, he said that Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Kyle Dubas is willing to get creative and the team is eyeing up a number of options in the marketplace to see if any fit on the current roster. While it’s easy to see how some players will fit in theory, making it work financially is the challenge.

Pagnotta suggests the team is looking at names like Ryan O’Reilly, Ivan Barbashev, and Timo Meier. All are players with a significant salary cap hit and it could require salary retention or another to make all the puzzle pieces work. When it comes to the Leafs, Pagnotta suggests Dubas is willing to take an active player off of the roster if need be.

As for who that player might be, Pagnotta didn’t specify. However, the most commonly mentioned names when it comes to Toronto are Alex Kerfoot, Wayne Simmonds, and Justin Holl. Holl is a pending UFA making $2 million, but the risk in this move is that the Leafs aren’t terribly deep on defense. Moving Holl means weakening their blue line even further and if Muzzin is out, that might not be the wisest idea.

Simmonds has been in and out of the lineup all season and it seems clear his time in Toronto is coming to an end. He’s making a mere $900K and he too is a pending UFA at the end of the season.

Kyle Dubas Maple Leafs GM NHL
Kyle Dubas Maple Leafs GM NHL

Kerfoot might be the most likely candidate if the Leafs really want to take a swing. He’s a pending UFA, he makes $3.5 million on the salary cap and he’s a versatile winger who can play both sides. He would come in useful for a team in the playoffs and if the Leafs believe they can land an upgrade on him for their top six, they might be willing to move on. He does have a 10-team no-trade list, so there is the possibility he’s not as easy to move as some might think. There is also some talk that Sheldon Keefe is not keen on the idea of moving Kerfoot. It’s not clear how much if any say Kerfoot will have in the deals that get done.

Next: Auston Matthews to Miss All-Star Game, 3 Weeks With Injury

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Mark

    January 27, 2023 at 5:32 pm

    Please to god !!!…get rid of Justin holl!! Please

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