Maple Leafs Trade Deadline Miss: Insider Reveals the One Goal They Didn't Achieve

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Tom Banks
March 12, 2024 (2:10 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs picked up Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmunson, as well as some smaller names at the trade deadline, leaving their fans quite disappointed, and now an insider reveals a move they were looking to make that they couldn't quite pull off.

Maple Leafs looking for a defenseman with term

According to TSN's Chris Johnston, the Maple Leafs were looking for a defenseman with term at the trade deadline, and while they had the assets to make a move, nothing came to fruition.

"My sense is that if anything, it was about trying to get some defensemen with term... and I don't think that was there," said Johnston on Overdrive yesterday. "The Leafs explored to see what else might be out there if they were going to trade their first-round pick or Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten. They looked at ways they could have used some of that capital to change the way things looked the rest of this season and ultimately into next year."

There were some names out there such as Sean Walker, Bowen Byram and others, but ultimately the team just couldn't make it happen, and instead settled for two defenseman that barely fit in with the timeline of their roster.

Can the Maple Leafs win it all in 2023-24?

With one of the deepest and most talented forward groups in the NHL, the feeling was that this is the year for the Maple Leafs to make a deep run, but with Brad Treliving unwilling to move their first-round pick or any of their top prospects, it appears he may have a different timeline.

It's not all his fault, as the availability of defenseman with term wasn't as plentiful as we've seen in recent years, but now, the Maple Leafs will have to live with their lack of blockbuster moves as they chase their first Stanley Cup since the 1967 season.

As Read on Maple Leafs Insider - Insider says the Leafs failed to check only one box at the deadline