Deal confirmed : the Maple Leafs Actually Will Go Big at the Trade Deadline

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not expected to do much of anything at this year’s trade deadline.

If you listen to the pundits, whether on Twitter, on a podcast or on the TV, the most you will hear about is the Toronto Maple Leafs having interest in Yanni Gourde or Scott Laughton. Maybe Chris Tanev, maybe Ryan O’Reilly or Trent Frederic.

 

The combination of assets, cap space, no-trade clauses and regrettable long-term committments is expected to producce a quiet deadline for the Leafs.

The team’s appetite to pull off something akin to the Mikko Rantanen trade (by which I mean adding a Rantanen, not trading one) is thought to be virtually non-existant. Afterall, they have basically no cap space, they don’t have a good prospect pool and they have a GM who publically stated multiple times that he doesn’t really like making in-season moves and doesn’t care for the trade deadline.

But none of that matters.

The thing is, all of those objections can be overcome. The Leafs just saw a team that was already better than they are add one of the best players in the NHL to their team. They are up against a Rangers team that has an absolute ton of cap-space, not to mention the reigning Cup Champs and several other strong Eastern Teams

 

There is just nothing to suggest the current version of the Leafs, with their inexperienced goaltending, their paper-thin centre depth, their dump and chase offense, and their middle-of-the-pack blue-line can win the Stanley Cup.

There are, however, several reason why they don’t have a choice but to try.