DENVER — The Toronto Maple Leafs made some big moves ahead of the 2025 NHL Trade deadline. The Leafs acquired forward Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins.
But it came at a cost:
The Leafs traded budding prospect Fraser Minten to the Boston Bruins as part of the pack for Carlo. They also moved Nikita Grebenkin to the Flyers for to the Flyers. In addition to a pair of conditional first-round picks, Toronto sent defenseman Conor Timmins and forward Connor Dewar to the Pittsburgh Penguins to fit everything nicely under the cap.
As much as the Leafs are happy to get the additions to the lineup, the Leafs are parting with some good future talent as well:
"Before I talk about the new players, I do, it's important, first off, to thank Conor Timmons, Connor Dewar, Fraser Minten, and Nikita Grebenkin," Treliving said. "Obviously, both Con(n)or's had been with the NHL team more than the young guys. And that's the tough part about today is you have to, in some cases, say goodbye to real good people.
Treliving continued.
All four were great Leafs. You know, the two kids. And Nikita, I think he sort of captured his personality, captured everybody there. I said to him, you know, more backcheck and there'll be a greater paycheck. And then Fraser, you can't say enough about Fraser. He's just a wonderful, wonderful young man. So to get good players, you've got to get good players. So we're certainly happy with the additions of Scott and Brandon and wish Connor, the two Con(n)ors and Fraser and Nikita all the best.
Dewar was traded at the deadline for the second consecutive season. Toronto acquired him from the Minnesota Wild last year for a 2026 fourth-round pick and forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov.
Timmins had five goals and 27 assists in 101 games with the Leafs. This season, the defenseman added some weight and established himself as somewhat of an everyday third-pair defenseman with the club.
Both departing Leafs were pulled off the ice at Toronto's practice on the campus of Denver University before the session ended.
"Yeah, it's weird. You know, I'm sure pretty stressful all around," Auston Matthews said following practice. "Obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff going on. You can only control so much. So it's just kind of the nature of the game this time of year. You know, with the deadline moving, there's always things going on. So, you know, you just got to kind of go with the flow, I guess."
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube echoed Matthews' sentiment."It's hard to lose teammates. But that's the business," Berube said. "And it's a tough part of the business."
Weeks before the 2019 NHL trade deadline, Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz, then with the Edmonton Oilers was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Cam Talbot and recalled how precious those moments are before the deadline.
"That's why yesterday I just started hanging out with the team, and, you know, stay close to each other, because, you know, something like this happens, and, you know, some guys are gone."
Many of the players spent the off day in Colorado together on Thursday
