Maple Leafs Will Have to Get Creative to Acquire a Centre After Most Recent News

All season, the talk around Toronto has been that Brad Treliving and the Leafs are looking to add a third line center to the mix.

The Leafs have been exploring all their options, and on Thursday, Elliotte Friedman revealed in his '32 Thoughts' blog the Leafs are going to push the limit and attempt to acquire a second line center.

The news came as a welcomed surprise to Leafs fans given Treliving's typical deadline deals involve low-risk, low-cost additions. Friedman doubled down on Friday's '32 Thoughts' podcast but explained it would be very difficult for the the Leafs to do so given their reluctance to part with one particular asset.

The 2025 first-round pick the Leafs currently don't have was originally traded to the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the Jake McCabe deal by Kyle Dubas ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.

While the Leafs are in 'win now' mode, they do have to be somewhat cautious in terms of developing a pipeline that they will be able to transition to as Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner enter the back half of their careers.

In no way are they anywhere close to those years, but the Leafs have had just 19 draft picks since 2021 and only one first-round pick (Rasmus Sandin) play NHL games since 2018. It makes sense that with the depth of the 2026 draft and lack of high-end prospects in the organization that Treliving is hesitant to move the 2026 first-rounder, but if it was for someone like Dylan Cozens, who is only 23, it would be better to move it.