Leafs reporter all but eliminates the possibility of one big fish deadline rental coming to Toronto
There are plenty of questions surrounding the Leafs and what their deadline plans might be this year. We're inching closer to the new year and when that calendar flips to 2023 on January 1st, we'll be 9 weeks away from the deadline, which means we're going to be hearing more and more rumours in the coming weeks.
On Thursday morning, Joshua Kloke, a Leafs writer with The Athletic, got together with the Canucks' writer for The Athletic, Harman Dayal, to discuss the temperature around a Bo Horvat to Toronto deal and whether or not the Leafs have the pieces that the Canucks are looking for in order to get a deal done.
Now, I want to preface this by stating that, to this point, there have been no talks directly linking Horvat to the Leafs and no indication that the Leafs and Canucks have even touched base on Horvat's potential availability in a deal. However, having said that, Horvat does check some boxes for the Leafs and could be that long-coveted scoring forward that the Leafs are looking for in their top six.
Kloke submitted a trio of potential trade offers to Dayal, which Dayal then analyzed to determine whether or not they fit the criteria of what the Canucks would be looking for in a deal for Horvat. You can see the full breakdown of the trade offers at the link provided below.
The one trade offer that Dayal felt was closest to the mark involved the Leafs' top prospect, Matthew Knies. However, with the Leafs unlikely to move Knies, it would appear as though both sides seem destined to do their business elsewhere, at least in Kloke's eyes.
For the Leafs, I still keep coming back to Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly as a potential fit. Yes, O'Reilly is a center and no, the Leafs don't necessarily NEED to bring in another top flight center, but ROR's playoff experience, production, fierce two-way play and affinity for winning draws can all benefit the Leafs in a number of ways. Plus, at 31 years-of-age, and struggling to start the year in St. Louis, the cost might be lower than it would for the 27-year-old Horvat.
The other major splash the Leafs could make would be going after the likes of 3-time Stanley Cup winner Patrick Kane, who has voiced his desire to play with Auston Matthews on the world stage for Team USA at the Olympics. Between these two alternative big fish rental pieces, perhaps there's a deal there that makes sense that doesn't involve Knies.
| POLL | ||
22 DECEMBRE | 482 ANSWERS Leafs reporter all but eliminates the possibility of one big fish deadline rental coming to Toronto If you could only have one of Ryan O'Reilly or Patrick Kane, who would it be? | ||
| O'Reilly | 249 | 51.7 % |
| Kane | 183 | 38 % |
| Neither | 50 | 10.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
