The Toronto Maple Leafs need something to change. General manager Brad Treliving has mentioned changing the team's DNA after they were knocked out of the playoffs in embarrassing fashion. Could either of these trades with the Boston Bruins do enough this summer?
We have already seen deals get figured out between these teams. Brandon Carlo is now a Maple Leaf, for example. So, could Treliving turn to Don Sweeney once more to carve out something that can work for both teams?
Toronto needs win-now players but with a slight eye on the future and extending the window led by Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Boston probably doesn't want to be as bad as they were this past season, but are focusing fully on a younger supporting cast behind the core of David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman.
What kind of trades could we see? Well one that's a little bit on a former top prospect and then...well, kind of the same.
Lysell has not been developed very well by the Bruins. The former first-round pick is now 22 years old and all he has done since being drafted has been improving with more and more competition. In his third year in the AHL this past season, he hit a bit of a wall, scoring just 11 goals and 34 points in 52 games -- after being near a point-per-game player as a young winger the prior season -- but he did make his NHL debut.
In 12 games with the Bruins, Lysell scored one goal and three points. Not all that exciting but his opportunity was limited with just an average of 13:27 TOI. He's a volume shooter with 21 shots on goal in those first ever 12 NHL games, which is sort of what Toronto needs.
Could all it cost is a third-round pick? Maybe. It sure seems like Lysell is not really in the Bruins' future plans and they are probably happy to get anything back for someone who might dwindle into absolutely nothing with the trajectory he is on.
If the Maple Leafs can get Lysell to really solidify his game, and then just plop him down on John Tavares's wing on the third line (if Tavares re-signs and the Leafs get a second-line center, of course) then it wouldn't be crazy to think that he can score 20 goals. He might not be as go-go-go as Nick Robertson in that role, but he sure possesses more all-around skill.
For once, maybe the Leafs can benefit from some other team's prospect castoffs.
This is getting more of a sure thing than Lysell, but it would cost a whole lot more.
Mittelstadt was acquired by the Bruins from the Colorado Avalanche in the Charlie Coyle trade around last trade deadline. The 26-year-old forward didn't really improve when he went over to Boston -- he scored four goals and six points in 18 games for the Bruins while averaging a whole 17:17 TOI -- but he could still solidify some sort of scoring depth a little bit better than the Maple Leafs currently have.
In this trade, the Leafs would be parting ways with Domi and the three years remaining on his deal that has a cap hit of $3.75 million, attaching a third-round pick to him, and then taking on Mittelstadt's deal that has two more years but at a much larger cap hit of $5.75 million.
Probably not ideal to be spending almost six million whole dollars on someone who might be a middle-six forward that scores 40 points (he did score exactly 40 last season split between Colorado and Boston) but Toronto wouldn't have the black hole where defense dies known as Max Domi, on the team anymore.
It's not a trade that will blow people's minds, but if Toronto can't find a suitor to be a second-line center and end up re-signing Tavares, having a platoon with Mittelstadt in the middle six and surrounding them with more skilled wingers, isn't the worst option.
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