Leafs reportedly ramping up efforts to pull off another trade, possibly multiple trades, per trusted NHL Insider
Earlier this week, the Leafs pulled off a trade with the Arizona Coyotes to address a need on their very banged up blueline, acquiring 24-year-old Conor Timmins in exchange for prospect Curtis Douglas. Now, according to NHL Insider Chris Johnston, the Leafs are pushing for an additional deal or potentially multiple deals between now and the trade deadline.
Johnston made the comment on his podcast, The Chris Johnston Show, that the Leafs have been more active than normal this season on the trade market. They've already made one deal, albeit likely out of necessity, with the Timmins deal, but as we also know, beginning just prior to the start of the season, the Buds have been actively trying to move Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds is in the final year of his deal, earning $900K this year. He also has a 10-team no-trade list built into his contract.
In addition to shopping Simmonds, the Leafs still have plenty of needs, even though they're currently playing some excellent hockey. CJ mentioned on the November 21st episode that the organization would like to add a top-six winger prior to the trade deadline to help them with a playoff push. CJ's rationale for this is that for whatever reason, the organization still has some questions about how NHL-ready Nick Robertson really is. If they have their doubts, then bringing in a top six winger could certainly be in the cards.
The fanbase has been clamoring for an Alexander Kerfoot trade for the better part of the last couple of seasons as well. Kerfoot carries a $3.5M cap hit and hasn't provided the Leafs with $3.5M in value this season. He hit 51 points last year and is barely on pace to reach half of that this season - 25 points. Thus far, he's been limited to just 7 points in 23 games. With that type of production, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Leafs ship him out and use those cap savings on a player who they believe can be more effective for them, perhaps in a similar place in the roster or another area, with those cap dollars.
What we do know about Kyle Dubas is that he prefers to get his deals done before the deadline, as we saw with the deals for Jake Muzzin, Jack Campbell and Ilya Lyubushkin, among others. He likes to give his team a little extra runway with which to get up to speed and build some additional chemistry before the playoffs.
While I'm not entirely convinced that the Leafs pull off another move by Christmas, I could see them coming out of the Christmas break and making a move or two between Christmas and the All-Star break. As far as targets go, I think any speculation on who some of the more likely candidates might be is pointless, as Dubas has made some surprising moves to bring in players that a lot of people didn't even consider as legitimate possibilities in the past.
There is a lot of time between now and the trade deadline and we also need to consider Matthew Knies in all of this as well. I think the Leafs will prepare for the chance that Knies isn't ready for full-time action right away but will also give him a pretty healthy opportunity to grab a spot. Still - for that to happen, the Buds will have to open up a contract slot, as they currently sit at the maximum 50/50 contracts, so there will likely be a move there one way or the other.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 27 | 312 ANSWERS Leafs reportedly ramping up efforts to pull off another trade, possibly multiple trades, per trusted NHL Insider How many more trades will the Leafs complete this season? | ||
| None or 1 | 43 | 13.8 % |
| 2 or 3 | 241 | 77.2 % |
| 4 or 5 | 28 | 9 % |
| List of polls | ||
