Potential Center Target for Brad Treliving and the Leafs Officially Taken Off the Trade Board
If Brad Treliving and the Maple Leafs wanted to acquire a third-line center they'll have to look beyond Juuso Parssinen whom the Predators traded on Saturday.
Though the team is in a good spot right now at 22-12-2 and tied for first in the Atlantic Division, the Maple Leafs want to add some depth ahead of their hopefully long playoff push.
One name who was potentially thought of in the mix was Nashville Predators center Juuso Parssinen. The 6'3 pivot would have fit in nicely with Craig Berube's system and a fairly inexpensive option at that.
Unfortunately for Treliving he missed out on adding the Finnish center as he was traded on Saturday afternoon to the Colorado Avalanche. The news was broken by NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman on X.
Nashville acquired Ondrej Pavel, a young center with 2 NHL games to his career, as well as gaining a 7th-round pick in the transaction.
Parssinen has five points in 15 games for the Predators this season and was drafted in the 7th round by Nashville in 2019.
Another Swing And A Miss For Brad Treliving
For all the talk surrounding the Maple Leafs making a trade, there really has been no indication or inklings beyond the knowledge they want to get a deal done eventually.
The team more than likely will wait until the March 7 deadline however if they hold off for too long, they'll either end up overpaying or miss out entirely. Names like Jacob Trouba, Cam Fowler, and Kaapo Kakko have already been moved, and now with Parssinen out of the fold; the options are starting to look thinner.
There are always bigger names like Brock Nelson or Chris Kreider however the former is more than likely locked into Long Island unless they completely throw their season away meanwhile the latter is a very expensive option that is going to cost Brad Treliving everything he has.
One name linked to the Maple Leafs in recent days is Seattle Kraken center Yanni Gourde. He would be a great fit for the team however comes at a serious financial cost that will take salary retention and a few extra sweeteners in order to balance things out.
For now though, the Leafs missed out on yet another frugal option to shore up their depth. If Brad Treliving doesn't start making a move soon, fans are going to be frustrated if another successful season goes up in flames.
