Brad Treliving, Maple Leafs will need to get creative on trade market

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving continues to look for ways to upgrade his roster heading into next season, and if it’s via the trade route, Treliving will have to lean heavily on his creativity to make a significant move.

The Leafs only have $2.9 million in cap space to work with as the one-month mark of free agency approaches. Free-agent forwards such as Jack Roslovic or Victor Olofsson are intriguing options, but are they necessarily going to move the needle for the Maple Leafs? Why haven’t they signed contracts yet? Perhaps, some red flags are hanging in the balance that teams are navigating through meetings?

Treliving is likely headed down the trade route at some point. There’s certainly a chance it’s during the quiet summer months, giving his team a chance to truly feel a DNA change. It would allow the Maple Leafs a shot at building chemistry at training camp, which could be a better long-term solution, instead of trying to implement new faces into the top six over half way through the season.

When it comes to trade assets, that’s the tricky part. Ideally, one of David Kampf or Calle Jarnkrok are traded this summer. It would allow for more competition within the bottom six of the Maple Leafs’ roster, and more importantly, it would free up some more cap space to let Treliving cook. The only issue is, moving either of those players would be more of a salary dump than a hockey trade, and the Leafs would receive back limited return.

Nick Robertson could fetch another type of ‘project’ prospect or mid-round pick, but don’t expect to see anything significant coming back the other way, unless Robertson’s packaged with a couple of other pieces. Treliving and company appear high on prospects Ben Danford and Easton Cowan, with Cowan having a legitimate shot at making the Maple Leafs as soon as next season. A Jarnkrok, Kampf, or Robertson trade would all but seal the deal for the former London Knight, who would be given an ample opportunity to be penciled in the opening night lineup next season.

As for draft picks, Treliving doesn’t have a first, or second-round pick in 2026, no first in 2027. Losing Cowan or Danford and not having any top picks for a couple of seasons would be a giant step backwards for the future of the team. The cupboards are bare thanks to significant trade capital being spent ahead of last season’s deadlines, with the additions of Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton. Looking back, it makes you wonder if Treliving received enough in return for shipping out two big pieces of his future.

The argument to be made is the fact the Maple Leafs are in win-now mode. Most of the team are in the primes of their careers, the window to win is wide open. Yes, there’s going to be massive question marks about how to replace Mitch Marner’s production on both sides of the puck, if the goaltending tandem can stay healthy, and just how healthy will Auston Matthews be come training camp. Will he finally be back to 100%? What’s more responsibility for William Nylander going to do for his game? Can the defence corps keep it and can Morgan Rielly get back to being close to a number-one defenceman, even a #3 at this point?

There’s a ton of questions surrounding the Maple Leafs right now and one of the biggest ones is just how much can Treliving improve the roster considering the trade assets he’s working with right now. Creativity will be leaned on heavily for the Maple Leafs’ GM, because frankly, he has no other choice.