The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t need to blow up their entire roster, but general manager Brad Treliving should be in full sell mode ahead of this season’s trade deadline.
The Maple Leafs lost their sixth straight game on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken, the first time that’s happened since 2019, and now enter the weekend with a 24-21-9 record, sitting second last in the Eastern Conference. Treliving must be working the phones during the two-week Olympic break, and once the roster freeze is lifted, it’s time to throw the towel in on this season.
While Treliving isn’t shy to make moves, he hasn’t necessarily blown the doors off at the helm in Toronto. The Fraser Minten/Brandon Carlo trade looks worse by the day, and yes, Scott Laughton has looked better during spurts this season, but it was a tough price to swallow for a fourth-line centre. Regardless of what’s gone on in the past, it’s important for Treliving to re-tool on the fly, and that all starts by selling off some assets ahead of March 6.
First and foremost, Matthew Knies shouldn’t be going anywhere. The worst thing Craig Berube could have done was take Knies off of Auston Matthews’ wing, and hopefully after the trade deadline, there’s a opportunity for Knies to get back on the top line, get his confidence back, and continue to create impactful chemistry with Matthews. Again, there’s zero chance Knies should be included in this season’s sell mode.
This sell mode should start by asking Morgan Rielly for a list of teams he’d consider moving to. Enough is enough, if Treliving wants to legitimately change the complexion of his team, along with upgrading his roster heading into next season, Rielly is the first move. The longest-tenured Maple Leaf owns a full no-movement clause, he’s signed through the 2030 season at $7.5 million AAV, and it’s likely Treliving may have to wait until the summer for this trade to materialize. That’s OK. What can’t happen is having Rielly start next season as a Leaf.
Moving Oliver Ekman-Larsson, to me, makes little sense. The Maple Leafs need to re-tool, they don’t need to rebuild, so if you move Ekman-Larsson, you’re moving your best defenceman off a team that desperately needs three new blue liners as it stands right now. Toronto could likely add a second-round pick and a solid young defenceman, but OEL is signed for two more seasons at a very reasonable rate, and if Treliving can actually work some magic, and make needle-moving deals to upgrade his roster, the pieces are still there for the Maple Leafs to turn things around as soon as next season. Ekman-Larsson should be a part of the solution.
If teams are calling about either Brandon Carlo or Simon Benoit, Treliving should be biting. Both defencemen are signed through next season, and have been extremely inconsistent this season. They’ve seemed to have both lost their edge, and aren’t nearly as intimidating to play against as they once were. Benoit would have been scratched numerous times on any other team this season, but Craig Berube doesn’t have much to work with on the back end as far as better options go. It’s worth a reminder that Troy Stecher was a waiver wire pickup, and next thing you know, he’s among the Leafs’ leaders in ice-time. That says something about Stecher, but it also says way more about the Leafs’ blueline.
Treliving should sell low on both Carlo and Benoit, and take whatever he can get for draft picks or assets. The Maple Leafs need a new look to their defence core next season, and Treliving can go a couple of different routes doing so ahead of the 2026-27 season, including signing a couple of free agents, or making an offseason blockbuster. For now, move off of Rielly, Benoit, and Carlo and call it a day.
Auston Matthews needs to be a priority as he heads into the final year of a four-year contract, and Treliving should be asking Matthews who in the league he wants as his new right winger. Knies should be moved back on his left wing, and both Max Domi and Bobby McMann should be moved ahead of the trade deadline.
Domi doesn’t have a home on this roster, and unfortunately for him, that’s been the case since day one. He wasn’t defensively sound enough to be third-line centre the Leafs desperately needed the past couple of seasons, and now, he’s not consistent enough to be riding shotgun with Toronto’s best player on the top line. Domi owns a 13-team no-trade clause, so there’s a small wrinkle to consider, but it doesn’t tie Treliving’s hands enough to not be able to pull off a transaction.
McMann, on the other hand, has a trade market and has recently been linked to the
Edmonton Oilers. The speedy winger scored 20 goals last season, he’s on pace to break that this year with 17 at the moment, but the number he could ask for following this season is a risk for the Leafs. Treliving can’t afford another miss on a contract extension, so all he should be worrying about right now is creating a bidding war to move the 29-year-old, and collect some much-needed trade assets for future conversations.
Along with Domi and McMann, Treliving should see if anyone wants the experienced Calle Jarnkrok for the rest of this season, and if he has to retain 50 percent of his contract, absolutely do so. There’s a team out there that will bite on a 50% off veteran winger with a strong work ethic, and it’s essentially the only way Treliving will get something like a fourth-round pick back. The Leafs cupboards are bare in the organization, so at this point, take whatever you can get for 50 percent-off Jarnkrok.
Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson shouldn’t be going anywhere, at least for now. Both young forwards have shown promise this season, they seem very coachable, and willing to put in the work to improve their games, and if Treliving was wise, he’d hang onto both. However, if a GM comes along and wants one of them included in a trade package, that can land the Maple Leafs a top-pair defenceman, or top-line right winger, Treliving should think long and hard about it. As long as the player or players coming back to Toronto are under team control, it never hurts to listen in trade conversations.
In the crease, moving a goaltender appears more likely than not, considering the Maple Leafs have two goaltenders who can’t stay healthy, despite being on team-friendly contracts. And, don’t forget about Dennis Hildeby. There’s a reason Treliving extended him ahead of this season. He has a future in Toronto, and when the offseason hits, one of Anthony Stolarz or Joseph Woll should be traded. It’s a position of strength for the Leafs, they have trade value on the market. It just doesn’t seem like a goaltender trade is something that could materialize quick enough during the Olympic break, so Treliving should perhaps start those conversations, and then finish them in the summer. My guess, Stolarz is the one dealt in the offseason.
The Maple Leafs must enter sell mode ahead of this season’s trade deadline, no questions asked. Treliving must commit to the process of a quick re-tool, or else it could cost him his job this summer. The Maple Leafs’ GM should start by trading Rielly, which will give the dressing room the shake up it needs. Treliving should begin the goaltender trade conversations so something materializes in the summer months, while finalizing deals ahead of the deadline involving Carlo, Benoit, Jarnkrok, McMann and Domi.
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