The Toronto Maple Leafs made their first trade of the season on Oct. 8, moving Sam Lafferty to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-round pick. With this move, the Maple Leafs gained $1.15 million of cap space, something that they needed. However, it is hard to believe that Lafferty will be the only player who the Maple Leafs trade this season. The Maple Leafs are likely to be buyers at the trade deadline, so they will surely do some tinkering to their roster. As a result, let’s go over three Maple Leafs who could find new homes during the 2023-24 season now.
Nick Robertson
After failing to make the Maple Leafs roster, one has to wonder if Nick Robertson will find a new home during the 2023-24 season. The former top prospect has not developed into a full-time NHL player, and the primary reason for this has been his long-term injury trouble. With that, the Maple Leafs are in win-now mode and have an immensely deep forward core with both veteran stars and top prospects like Matthew Knies and Fraser Minten. Thus, perhaps a change of scenery could be in the cards for Robertson.
Robertson, 22, is still young enough that there would be clubs out there willing to take him in as a project if made available. He has shown in the past that he has the potential to be an effective NHL player, but he just has not gotten to that level consistently due to his injuries. However, if he stays healthy and produces well this season, it would help raise his value.
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Ultimately, it is starting to feel like a make-or-break season for Robertson. If he earns a call-up and plays exceptionally well, he would be a good asset for the Maple Leafs’ NHL roster. However, if he cannot take that jump during the year, he would make sense as a trade asset to bring in talent that would help the Maple Leafs’ group for the playoffs.
Conor Timmins
Conor Timmins is another Maple Leaf to watch with trade talk this season. Although the 25-year-old defenceman had an excellent preseason before suffering his week-to-week lower-body injury, it is unlikely that he will be a regular in Toronto’s lineup once he returns due to their current depth on the right side. More notably, the Maple Leafs have limited cap space, and Timmins has a $1.1 million cap hit until the end of the 2024-25 season as a depth defenceman. Keep in mind, this deal was finalized with Kyle Dubas as the Maple Leafs’ general manager (GM), not current GM Brad Treliving.
If Treliving wanted to part ways with Timmins, there would likely be some interest. Although the 25-year-old is certainly injury-prone, he showed promise last season following his move to the Maple Leafs. In 25 games with Toronto following the move, the St. Catharines native posted two goals and 14 points. That is good production from a depth defenceman, and he likely could get consistent bottom-pairing minutes elsewhere.
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Ultimately, there is not a dire need to move Timmins, but he could be expendable if the Maple Leafs want to move out more salary or want to improve their roster at the deadline. If not, he should continue to be a solid seventh defenceman for the Maple Leafs in 2023-24.
T.J. Brodie
When looking at the Maple Leafs’ current roster, the biggest question heading into the new year is their defence. This has been a common talking point for the Maple Leafs over the years and is an area that they are surely going to look to improve at the deadline. However, with the Maple Leafs having limited cap space, they may need to move out a more expensive player to bring in a high-impact defenceman at any point this season. Enter T.J. Brodie.
Brodie is entering the final season of his contract and carries a hefty $5 million cap hit. Although Brodie has been solid since joining the Maple Leafs, his production is quite low for his current salary. If the Maple Leafs want to upgrade their group by bringing in a top-four defenceman who makes a bigger impact with his offence, Brodie would likely need to be packaged into a deal.
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The one obstacle in a potential Brodie deal is that he has a 10-team no-trade list. However, the Maple Leafs still have several teams that they would be permitted to trade him to if they elect to shop him, so a move is far from impossible.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if any of these three Maple Leafs find new homes before the end of the 2023-24 season. Two other names to watch include Timothy Liljegren and Martin Jones.
