Leafs Have Significant Obstacle to Overcome to Move Any Significant Salary Out Ahead of Trade Deadline

The NHL's trade deadline is less than a month away, and the Leafs continue to search for a centre to bolster their middle six.

While GM Brad Treliving is trying to be cautious with the assets available to him, he ultimately may have to part with a high pick or a valuable prospect like Fraser Minten or Easton Cowan in order to get the upgrade the team and their fans are envisioning.

In acquiring a high-end player, however, salary becomes an issue. Former GM Kyle Dubas was constantly using draft picks as currency to have a third team retain salary during his tenure with the Leafs. He also parted ways with multiple high picks and prospects over the years that have left the cupboards pretty bare. It is, of course, how the Leafs landed Ryan O'Reilly and Jake McCabe.

Heading into this year's deadline, the Leafs, as they have in recent years, are operating in LTIR with exactly, $2,976,562 in cap space. That means Treliving will have to sweeten any deal he tries to make for a high-profile player to get some sort of retention or to move some money out.

The issue is magnified by the fact the Leafs currently have 12 players with no trade clauses - six with modified no trade clauses and six with full no-movement clauses. The Leafs rank second, only behind the New York Islanders, in the league for players having some type of trade protection.

Those with the no-movement clauses are not the issue, because of who they are, but the players with modified trade clauses pose an issue for Treliving. Most notably, if he ultimately decides he needs to shed salary in order to acquire someone like Dylan Cozens.

Depending on who he may choose to move, Treliving would be forced to involve a third team or make a secondary deal with a team that isn't on a player's no trade list. And, of course, those teams not on the list also have to like the player.

Depending on the health of Calle Jarnkrok and maybe Jani Hakanpaa, both of whom have modified no-trade clauses, the Leafs will be forced to shed some salary ahead of the deadline, but with all of the trade protection the Leafs have, Treliving may decide to move a player with a higher-than-minimum salary without trade protection such as a Conor Timmins or Simon Benoit in order to free up the necessary cap space he needs.

There is some time between now and the deadline to sort this out, but it's not exactly a walk in the park for Treliving, who has limitations based on the terms of some players' contracts.