Brad Treliving Urged to Follow Avalanche's Blockbuster Trade Strategy to Secure Immediate Future
The Toronto Maple Leafs could take a page out of Colorado's book and make themselves a big splash and give their team a massive advantage come playoffs.
With the blockbuster trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina (eventually), the NHL landscape shifted as the Avalanche parted with a superstar in order to sustain their future, and Carolina added a massive boost to their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes.
Toronto should get in on the blockbuster trade train, and try to make the biggest splash possible to secure their best possible chance at winning it all. They have the pieces necessary, and it's time to go all-in.
The Athletic Interview With Colorado Avalanche GM A Sign For Brad Treliving
NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun recently recently posted an interview with Colorado Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland for The Athletic that talked about how even with Mikko Rantanen out the door, the team isn't done making moves:
The challenge last week would have been pieces to move and cap space.
I think that's been cleared up a little bit. So we'll see if there's a match that we can do."
Toronto is trying to clear cap space of their own as they placed Anthony Stolarz on the LTIR, and with Calle Jarnkrok and Jani Hakanpaa joining him, the team has just over $2M in cap space.
LeBrun then pressed the GM if Colorado was going to make a deep run toward another Stanley Cup, or are they signaling a rebuild and focusing around Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon and build from there.
MacFarland replied:
Marty is going to put up points, and we have more cap space now. We'll continue to try and put that to use."
Toronto has a lot of dead weight they can cut they can cut if they wanted to bring in the best possible pieces.
Ryan Reaves, Connor Dewar, Conor Timmins, and Simon Benoit combined make $4.98M, and through a combination of waivers and trades could bring in the necessary roster and cap room.
The team also has their 2026 first round pick, four picks in the upcoming draft, and the entirety of their 2027 selections if they really wanted to give up the future for immediate success.
However, they need to be careful. As LeBrun states, teams were taking a chance on Rantanen and would only be giving up top pieces if they knew he was sticking around:
And to be clear, the Avs did not allow teams to talk to Rantanen's camp, led by agent Andy Scott of Octagon, about a possible extension."
Scott is an intriguing name as he's the same agent as Leon Draisaitl, who notoriously held out for more money than Connor McDavid for his latest extension.
So the Maple Leafs also need to be careful about who they bring in.
Names like Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde, Sam Bennett, or Mikael Granlund are all free agents at season's end, with only Bennett under the age of 30, and Nelson and Gourde approaching 35 (and Toronto can't justify spending the money even if they keep him around)
But while those names could help, Toronto needs to make a big splash and perhaps a trade to bring in Erik Karlsson to shore up their defensive woes would be the key; or they could look to the Rangers and snatch up both Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to give them a dynamite forward corps.
Sure it's going to cost a lot, but this is the business of winning. Brad Treliving is under immense pressure to make some type of move. So what better way to silence the voices than by taking their breath away?
