The Toronto Maple Leafs are set up to be busy before Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
In what is looking like a lost season, the Leafs likely have to embrace a seller’s mindset and ship away veterans and those on expiring contracts.
With that in mind, ESPN’s Arda Ocal lists six guys on the verge of free agency that the Maple Leafs could trade away:
- Calle Jarnkrok
- Scott Laughton
- Bobby McMann
- Troy Stecher
- Nicholas Robertson
- Matias Maccelli
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Jarnkrok, Laughton, McMann and Stecher are all unrestricted free agents after the season.
Robertson and Maccelli are both slated for restricted free agency.
“After making significant additions in recent deadlines, the flow should be reversed this season,” Ocal writes.
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The Maple Leafs don’t want to be sellers, of course. But sometimes, that’s the hand a team is dealt.
“It doesn’t seem to be working this season for Toronto,” Ocal writes. “For several seasons, the narrative was that this team was elite in the regular season, then disappeared when the postseason arrived. That narrative has fallen apart this season, as the team sits well outside the playoff mix as deadline week begins.”
The Maple Leafs could also consider trading players on longer-term deals, and they very well might do that.
But they don’t have much excuse for keeping around guys on expiring contracts.
