Since the season started, the Toronto Maple Leafs and GM Brad Treliving have been looking to upgrade their defense, specifically on the right side. Unlike other teams, the Leafs came into the year with very minimal assets to trade, including not having a second-round pick for this year or the following two seasons. They have swung a deal for Ilya Lyubushkin, but that move should be viewed as a depth move. They still very much need a bigger piece on the right side.
To that end, Treliving had made multiple attempts to land two of his former players from the Calgary Flames in Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov. First he tried to get them in one deal, then individually, but unfortunately, Calgary and Flames GM Craig Conroy were not willing to budge off of their reported asking price of a first-round pick plus. That is until they traded Tanev to the Dallas Stars for a second-round pick, prospect and conditional third-round pick on Wednesday night.
With the Leafs' reported number one target off the board, ESPN's Kevin Weekes revealed that the ask from the Leafs was significantly higher than what other teams had to offer to acquire the right-shot defenseman.
Based on Weekes' information, it would appear that the rest of the league and potential trade partners of the Leafs are essentially holding the Leafs hostage in terms of assets wanted to complete a trade. Whether that is just because it's the Leafs or the fact that teams know how desperate the Leafs are to upgrade their blueline is anyone's guess, but Treliving's job has gotten that much harder with the trade deadline now just a week away.
