The New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs are entering pivotal offseasons. For the Islanders, they reached the playoffs but after being eliminated in the first round, it’s clear they need to make a few big moves to make themselves Stanley Cup contenders. The Maple Leafs meanwhile won a playoff series for the first time since 2004 but after parting ways with general manager (GM) Kyle Dubas, they enter an offseason of uncertainty.
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Both teams have the players in place to build a Cup-contending roster next season. However, the Maple Leafs, in particular, have to be cognizant of their core players Auston Matthews and William Nylander playing on expiring contracts. It makes next year the last one where they can contend in the Eastern Conference before breaking up their core.
The Islanders and Maple Leafs don’t seem like ideal trade partners but they can both help each other out this offseason with a few moves. At the 2023 Trade Deadline, the two teams were able to make a move, as the Islanders acquired forward Pierre Engvall in a deal that prepared both rosters for a playoff push. While that move was made with Dubas as the Maple Leafs GM, it proved the two teams are willing to be trade partners and can make a deal in the summer ahead.
Islanders Can Target Nylander
The big splash that the Islanders can make is acquiring Nylander. He’s playing in the final year of his six-year contract and is on a $6.9 million salary cap hit, making him a tough player to acquire but also the most likely player to be traded by the Maple Leafs.
The Islanders will have a handful of obstacles to overcome to acquire a player of Nylander’s caliber. They’ll have to open up enough cap space to fit him onto the roster, requiring them to likely trade a depth player or two. Additionally, the return will have to be a strong one which will involve a young skater and a prospect like William Dufour or Samuel Bolduc. On top of that, the Maple Leafs will have to be willing to move on from one of their core players, something early reports have suggested they aren’t willing to do. In the end, a possible trade will be a risky move and potentially backfire for both teams.
That said, if the Islanders can make a deal work, the move would be worth it. Nylander is an elite top-six forward who can both create scoring chances and find the back of the net. On the Islanders, he can facilitate Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson, and Anders Lee from the wing while also finding scoring opportunities from Mathew Barzal. The offense has struggled without a playmaker on the wing in recent years and Nylander would both make the offense one of the best in the league and the Islanders favorites in the Eastern Conference.
The Maple Leafs trading Nylander wouldn’t signal they are rebuilding or blowing things up. Instead, a trade can set them up to compete both next year and in the long term, especially if they add an NHL-ready young skater to their lineup in a deal. They would be able to move on from a rental while also adding young talent to their roster which ultimately, can make them a more well-rounded team for a playoff run. Nylander will allow any team to go all-in on the upcoming season but moving on from him might be the best thing for the Maple Leafs, specifically in the offseason when they can get a strong return for him.
Maple Leafs Can Add Center Depth
The Maple Leafs have lacked strong center depth in recent seasons with their forward unit being a top-heavy one. With a lot of their salary cap invested in Matthews, Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares, they’ve often struggled to find reliable contributors for the third and fourth lines. In the playoffs, it’s cost the Maple Leafs in recent years as they haven’t found depth forwards who can find the back of the net and make a difference in close one-goal games.
The player on the Islanders that the Maple Leafs would hope to add to their offense would be top-six center Brock Nelson who has scored 73 goals in the last two seasons. However, the Islanders are unlikely to move arguably their best player and one of the faces of the franchise. Instead, the center the Maple Leafs can realistically target in a deal is Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the third-line center who checks all the boxes for a team looking to make one big push for the Stanley Cup. Pageau is the player they need not just because of his role but the skillset he has which particularly help out a team in the playoffs.
Pageau scored 13 goals and 27 assists, the fourth-most on the Islanders this season, and has established himself as a well-rounded veteran. Along with his playmaking, he is also a reliable defensive center who controls the middle of the ice and forces turnovers to immediately start up the offense. The Islanders will likely keep him on the roster as he is a pivotal part of the team’s success and has three years left on the six-year contract he signed shortly after being acquired at the 2020 Trade Deadline. That said, Pageau is a $5 million cap hit, and at 30 years old, he’s a player the team can move to both open up cap space and set themselves up for success long term.
If the Maple Leafs can acquire Pageau, they will set themselves up for playoff success and a run at the Stanley Cup. They already have an elite forward unit led by one of the best top lines in the league but need a center who can add depth to the offense and make the team better defensively. Pageau would add just that and at a discount with the Islanders likely asking for a second-round draft selection or a prospect in return. He might not be the splash addition but a valuable one that without question sets the Maple Leafs apart in the Eastern Conference.
Maple Leafs Add a Checking Presence
In the second round, the Maple Leafs struggled against the Florida Panthers when games were slower and more physical. Led by Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers made the series a hard-hitting affair and ultimately controlled the matchup, advancing in five games. If the Maple Leafs are going to make a big push for the Stanley Cup next year, one of the needs will be to add a hard-hitting presence to their fourth line to allow them to adapt to more physical playoff matchups.
Cal Clutterbuck doesn’t seem like an ideal player to add as a 35-year-old forward with one year left on his contract. However, he’s proven he can still play at a high level, especially as a defensive forward. He hasn’t been great offensively, scoring only six goals and six assists last year but he is great defensively, delivering hard hits and creating turnovers to set up the offense with a strong forecheck. The Maple Leafs would add him to round out their forward unit and add a defensive presence to their fourth line while only trading away a late-round draft pick in the process. The Islanders meanwhile would trade Clutterbuck to open up cap space to make a move this offseason.
Islanders Can Add Goaltending Depth
Matt Murray has suffered a tough second half of his career. After winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, he joined the Ottawa Senators in the 2020 offseason hoping to make them a contender. Unfortunately, he became one of the league’s worst goaltenders as he had a .899 save percentage (SV%), a 3.23 goals-against average (GAA), and minus-11.3 goals saved above average in two years with the Senators. He joined the Maple Leafs for the 2022-23 season but battled through injuries and only started 26 games. Murray has one year left on his contract but with Ilya Samsonov emerging as the starting goaltender and Joseph Woll establishing himself as a reliable backup, his tenure with the Maple Leafs looks like it’s coming to an end.
Interestingly enough, Murray is only 29 years old and despite a dramatic decline, he still has plenty of time to turn his career around. Moreover, he has proved he can be a good backup for a team that has an elite goaltender. In a limited role, Murray can give a team enough strong starts to prevent a goaltending unit from becoming a liability.
On the Islanders, Murray would only need to start 20 games while Ilya Sorokin, who is coming off a Vezina Trophy-caliber season, would start the rest of the games. The move would be a risky one with Murray declining in recent years. However, the Islanders can add a goaltender at a discount to replace Semyon Varlamov. Sorokin will start the majority of the team’s games and carry the goaltending unit for years to come. However, there will be a need for a backup and someone with a high upside can be the player they go after this offseason.
Other Moves The Islanders & Maple Leafs Can Make
Both teams can upgrade their defensive units in a deal, especially if there’s a blockbuster trade between the two teams. If the Maple Leafs are willing to trade Nylander, a defenseman they could target is Noah Dobson who is a young two-way player who can open up the offense from the point. Likewise, they could target Robin Salo and Bolduc, two prospects who hope to become regulars by next season.
The Islanders, who might not re-sign Scott Mayfield, could have a void on the right side of their defense. A defenseman who can help cover up the potential weakness is T.J. Brodie who will play next season in the last year of his contract. While the Islanders are hoping to add a two-way defenseman that can help out the offense, Brodie, who struggled offensively this season, would still be a great player on the unit.
The Islanders and Maple Leafs are both on the cusp of contending for the Cup. At the trade deadline, they both helped each other out with the Engvall trade which set them up for success in the rest of the 2022-23 season. With the two teams staring at consequential offseasons, they can make a win-win trade to set up their rosters to compete for the Stanley Cup next year.
