Toronto Maple Leafs Top 10 Trade Targets
James Mirtle and Jonas Siegel of The Athletic: With a few weeks left until the trade deadline, Jonas Siegel and James Mirtle take a look at their top-five candidates.
Jonas Siegel Top Five
- Alex Iafallo
- Taylor Hall
- Filip Forsberg
- Rickard Rakell
- Matt Nieto
Taylor Hall and Filip Forsberg would be an immense undertaking but would fulfill any top-six scoring issues. Rickard Rakell would be costly as well. However, he is not as costly as he would appear and Rakell is under contract for 2021-22 at $3.78 million.
Matt Nieto is a cheap penalty killer but the real find here might be Alex Iafallo from the Los Angeles Kings. Iafallo would allow Hyman and himself to go back and forth in the middle-six. Both would not be out of place playing with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
James Mirtle Top Five
All five players could easily turn things around in Toronto. It cannot be disputed that Granlund and Palmieri will cost the most. Granlund fits Toronto best and yes, the organization has been looking at him for a long, long time. He slots right into the line with Matthews and Marner without an issue. Granlund will not cost a ton of assets either whereas Kyle Palmieri might.
A little more on the Toronto Maple Leafs
Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star: Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs have been gifted an easy division to get into the semifinals of the Stanley Cup. That is the going theory. If there ever was a time to win the Stanley Cup, it may be this year. The time is now which is why Dubas needs to bolster wherever he can.
Kevin McGran of The Toronto Star (mailbag): One of the clearest things for Toronto is they will need to play more physically as the playoffs approach. That is needed for success. No one suggests that they need to forego other aspects to achieve that. Toronto will try to make a big move but can they pull it off? That is the question. So, there will be a move for a playoff-tough veteran and then a bigger swing so to speak for an offensive top-six player.
