Maple Leafs trade deadline preview: No choice but to sell

TORONTO — This was not the plan, but it is imperative that this becomes the plan.

Hang around the cellars and you have no choice but to become a seller.

In the case of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team coming to bitter grips with demise of the NHL’s longest active playoff streak, they will be posting a FOR SALE sign at the trade deadline for the first time in the Auston Matthews–William Nylander era.

That means a handful of skaters on expiring contracts should be up for rent to the highest bidder, of course. But it should also mean that Toronto’s veterans with term and reasonable cap hits are in play.

Even still, all signs point to a modest reset and reload as the club tries to regain its relevance in 2026-27.

The knife might not cut as deep this week as fans wish.

What management cannot afford, though, is to whiff on easy sells. The cupboards are too barren. Use cap space to retain salary and sweeten the returns.

It’s asset-recouping time in Toronto.

Projected deadline day cap space: $5.03 million

Our understanding of the Leafs’ scrambling plan is that they are treating 2025-26 as an off year, a bum-luck blip. They are the 2024-25 Bruins or the 2021-22 Golden Knights or 2016-17 Lightning — all of whom missed the post-season before returning to relevance.

We’re not convinced that’s true. But if this roster is to successfully reset, it needs youth and speed and a more mobile defence corps.

Because the trade deadline is mostly a rental market, GM Brad Treliving will have difficulty adding young players with term — but that shouldn’t prevent him from trying to swing a hockey deal that injects energetic legs and offensive upside into his blue line or two-way skill into his forward group.

The easier and more realistic path is to add to a draft pick and prospect pool that has been stripped bare after years of going for it.

Whether newly accrued picks and prospects are kept for a rebuild or flipped for NHL-ready talent in 2026-27 is a decision for another day. Either way, Toronto — without a first-rounder or second-rounder in 2026 or a first-rounder in 2027 — is desperate for those assets.

But if McMann, a pending UFA, wants anything near $5 million per season, it’s time to move on. Twenty-goal scorers are too hard to come by on the rental market, and the Leafs need to recoup a nice return here. A first? Fantastic. Two seconds? Let’s go.

Scott Laughton: Like McMann, Laughton has expressed his desire to remain a Leaf. And like McMann, Laughton can’t block a trade and should fetch great interest from contenders. The centre-slash-winger can win a faceoff, kill a penalty and inject leadership. Every room or bench improves with Laughton on it. (Murmurs are also kicking up about third-line centre Nicolas Roy, who has an extra year of term on his contract. The Oilers are one team said to be interested.)

Troy Stecher: A wonderful waiver find, the competitive Stecher has done yeoman’s work in Toronto, logging more than 20 minutes a night and filling in the role of right-shot minutes muncher admirably. But he’s on an expiring deal. If Stecher doesn’t wish to re-sign for a reasonable rate and short term, it’s time to ship him off for a pick.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson: OK, now we’re into the deeper cuts. Ekman-Larsson has term, carries a friendly cap hit ($3.5 million), and is amid one of his best showings yet — at age 34, no less. His trade value will never be higher. Yes, the Oilers may have found their guy in Connor Murphy, but that shouldn’t deter Treliving from exploring other landing spots.

Brandon Carlo: Unfairly to the player — a meat-and-potatoes shot blocker and cycle stuffer — the right-shot Carlo carries the ill feelings around Treliving’s worst move, last year’s shedding of Fraser Minten, a 2026 first-round pick (top-five protected) and a fourth-rounder to rival Boston. But that doesn’t mean Carlo wouldn’t be a boost to playoff-bound blue line. And in a market thin on defence rentals, Treliving stress the value of Carlo’s term and low cap hit.

Picks and prospects: Let’s not get picky here. High time to stock the cupboards, and it falls on management to secure the highest draft picks and most talented young players available this week. Sell high.

Robert Thomas: Aging pivots like Nazem Kadri and Ryan O’Reilly are non-starters. But if the available Thomas, 26, can be nabbed from St. Louis, we’re here for the retool-on-the-fly conversation. Unfortunately, with Treliving’s minimal asset pool, securing for a high-end target like Thomas will be a reach. A significant asset (Matthew Knies? Easton Cowan?) would have to go.

Braden Schneider: The Rangers are open for business, and this six-foot-four, 24-year-old, right-shot defenceman is fast approaching restricted free agency. If the Leafs are to come back younger, they must hit on some new acquisitions who won’t be overpriced. Schneider’s best hockey should still lie ahead.