Maple Leafs Lose Key trade Partner Following Insider Elliotte Friedman's Report
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to try and make a trade in order to bolster their lineup however a new report has crossed off some more names now unavailable.
To say it hasn't been the Maple Leafs' week might be an understatement. Firstly they lost out on trading for Yanni Gourde due to surgery, then they were linked to Brandon Saad who signed with Vegas; then Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci were sent to strengthen Dallas' lineup.
Elliotte Friedman Report Shuts Down Calgary Flames As Trade Partner For Maple Leafs
The names are slowly dropping off the list for Toronto and although there are still plenty of options available, a new report from NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman has crossed off another team with two more very important potential pieces:
While it was never a real possibility that Toronto had the pieces to acquire Weegar, there was a chance they could have gotten either Kadri or Andersson; and both would have been a massive boost.
Kadri is obviously no stranger to the Leafs who spent a decade with the team after they drafted him 7th overall in 2009, and has emerged as one of the NHL's most dynamic and consistent scorers in the past few seasons.
This year with Calgary, he has 17 goals and 17 assists in 50 games, but over the past six seasons with the Flames as well as Colorado he's recorded 128 goals and 192 assists over 392 games.
His best season came in 2021-22 when he exploded for 87 points (28G, 59A) and won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche the same season.
Kadri is in the third year of his seven-year, $49M contract he signed in 2022; coincidentally by current Leafs GM Brad Treliving.
He would have added a huge offensive boost to the Leafs, and solved their desperate third line center issues. The potential three-headed monster of Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Kadri would have been an incredible group, but it looks like that's no longer possible.
Andersson would have given Toronto's blueline a big help as well, and given that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is potentially injured, he would have added a lot of insurance.
Drafted 53rd overall by the Flames in 2015, the two-way defenseman has seven goals and 12 assists this season as well as an incredible 120 blocked shots and averages over 24 minutes of ice time.
For his career, he has 43 goals and 176 assists in 505 games but also adds 813 blocks for an average of 132 per season.
Andersson is in the fifth year of his six-year, $27.3M contract he signed with Calgary in 2020.
It's an unfortunate turn in the never-ending saga of the Maple Leafs' journey to find the right pieces as not only is time running out, but so are some names who can really make an impact.
