The Toronto Maple Leafs’ status as projected buyers ahead of Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline is a privileged position and a familiar one for nearly a decade. Again, comfortably in control of a playoff spot in the latter stages of the 2024-25 season, the Maple Leafs are staring down a ninth straight postseason appearance – and with that, a front office is focused on adding talent for their playoff push.
Toronto has fallen well short of their playoff expectations for years. Despite yielding four of the top five regular season point totals in franchise history, the past eight playoff runs have reaped just one series victory. This suggests that all the trade deadline efforts to bolster the lineup have largely been for naught. It’s a fair argument, but those deadlines have ushered in several players who have brought value (even if the team’s overall effort fell short).
Why the #LeafsForever's 2025 Trade Deadline is the most important of the Matthews/Marner era:
— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) March 5, 2025
Column from @MLarkinHockey on the need for Brad Treliving to act with urgencyhttps://t.co/fGqq0ln23C
With that in mind, here’s a look back on the Maple Leafs’ top-five deadline moves of the current playoff era, plus a couple of honorable mentions. In the same vein as this excellent deadline look-back from Alex Hobson and Spencer Lazary, we are including any trades that occurred within a month of that season’s deadline.
Maple Leafs Deadline Deals – Honorable Mentions
Based on depth and salary cap concerns, the general managers overseeing these deadlines – from Lou Lamiorello to Kyle Dubas to Brad Treliving – were often in tough to make major, roster-upending moves. Therefore, we’ve seen some sensible, minor roster additions that quietly paid dividends.
The club twice acquired Ilya Lyubushkin, who provided a steady, reliable defensive presence to some thin blue lines. The same can be said for Joel Edmunson last season, as he was sufficiently trusted by former head coach Sheldon Keefe, averaging nearly 19 minutes of ice time in the playoffs. Fan-favourite Luke Schenn’s return to the franchise in 2023 brought valuable leadership as well as some quick chemistry with Morgan Rielly. Even Brian Boyle became popular thanks to the grit and toughness he introduced when he was acquired ahead of the Maple Leafs’ first playoff appearance of this eight-season (so far) stretch.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Ryan O’Reilly among the honorable mentions. Fans were understandably disappointed that O’Reilly rebuffed the club’s attempts to re-sign him, but that still doesn’t erase his 13 regular-season games of near point-per-game value (he recorded four goals and 11 points), plus three goals and nine points in 11 playoff games. No, 24 total games aren’t enough for the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner to merit top-five inclusion, but his deadline acquisition wasn’t without its positives.
With that out of the way, now onto the list.
5) Mark Giordano
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Seattle Kraken |
| D Mark Giordano | Second-Round Pick (2022) |
| F Colin Blackwell | Second-Round Pick (2023) |
| Third-Round Pick (2024) |
By the time Mark Giordano finally joined his hometown team in 2021-22, he was 38 years old and in his 16th NHL season. Even still, the long-time Calgary Flames defenceman brought stability, leadership and depth to a group with plenty of high-end skill but a questionable blue line. He scored two goals and 10 assists over 20 regular-season games before averaging 20 minutes per night and blocking 12 shots over the club’s seven-game playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Had Giordano left after just 27 games in the blue and white, he likely would not merit inclusion here. However, he made his loyalty to the Maple Leafs known that off-season by signing a below-market two-year, $1.6 million contract to – at this point, anyway – finish his career in Toronto. The 2019 Norris Trophy winner’s role continued to decrease as he moved out of his 30s, but he still served as the glue while providing sturdy defence further down the lineup.
Colin Blackwell didn’t stick around past the 2021-22 season, but he did offer some capable fourth-line play and even recorded a goal in the playoffs. Meanwhile, on the other end of the deal, none of the three draft picks have yet to make their mark on the NHL. Goaltender Niklas Kokko (2022 Draft, 58th overall) recently had a shaky NHL debut, defenceman Lukas Dragicevic (2023, 57th overall) is playing out his final season in the Western Hockey League, and goalie Kim Saarinen (2024, 88th overall) is still getting his feet wet in the Finnish league.
4) Easton Cowan
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Washington Capitals |
| First-Round pick (2023) | D Rasmus Sandin |
| D Erik Gustafsson |
Nearly every deadline deal that the Maple Leafs have struck dating back to the 2016-17 season has come as a buyer, but not all of them. Roughly four days ahead of the 2023 deadline, the Maple Leafs got ahead of a potentially tricky contract negotiation with homegrown defenceman Rasmus Sandin and traded him to the Washington Capitals for Erik Gustafsson and a first-round pick in that summer’s draft.
Sandin hadn’t fully established himself as a top-four rearguard and couldn’t be fully trusted by a club with postseason ambitions. The smooth-skating Swede was still only 22 but had already played 140 games with Toronto and hadn’t developed as they had hoped. Furthermore, he was due a new contract and was likely set to earn a salary beyond what the organization could easily fit under the cap.
It probably wasn’t an easy choice to move Sandin, but the return helped. Adding Erik Gustafsson (four assists in nine regular-season games and a goal in two playoff games) ensured that the team hadn’t lost defensive depth. The real prize, however, was the draft pick that became prized prospect Easton Cowan. The 19-year-old is now a dominant offensive force for the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights, fresh off a 65-game point streak, and is widely considered the top prospect in the Maple Leafs’ system.
Now averaging 19 minutes per night in Washington, Sandin has become a blueline staple on one of the league’s best defensive teams. Even still, the Maple Leafs would not entertain the idea of trading Cowan for Sandin today. Furthermore, had Toronto given the Capitals blueliner his five-year, $23 million contract extension, they likely would not have been able to afford Chris Tanev and some of their other additions last off-season.
3) Jake Muzzin
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Los Angeles Kings |
| D Jake Muzzin | F Carl Grundstrom |
| D Sean Durzi | |
| First-Round Pick (2019) |
To properly appreciate how valuable Jake Muzzin was to the Maple Leafs when he was acquired from the LA Kings ahead of the 2019 Trade Deadline, just look at the club’s defence before his arrival. Sure, they had Rielly, but beyond that was a paltry group that leaned too heavily on Jake Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev and Ron Hainsey. Muzzin immediately altered the look of their blue line by providing a physical edge and a level of defensive accountability that they were sorely lacking.
Acquiring Muzzin wasn’t cheap. Sean Durzi has developed into an effective, offensive-minded defenceman for the Utah Hockey Club and, despite missing most of this season with a shoulder injury, is still just 26 years old. Meanwhile, Carl Grundstrom is a serviceable depth forward, and Tobias Bjornfot, taken with the 2019 first-round selection that Toronto surrendered, has bounced back and forth between the NHL and the American Hockey League (AHL).
The return on Muzzin was still a small price to pay for adding a player that helped legitimize a group that, to that point, looked like a talented collection of forwards and not much else. From the 2019 trade until 2022, he and Rielly were the foundation of the Maple Leafs’ back end. That run would have surely continued were it not for a spinal injury that forced the 36-year-old into premature retirement in October 2023.
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2) Jake McCabe
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Chicago Blackhawks |
| D Jake McCabe | F Joey Anderson |
| F Sam Lafferty | F Pavel Gogolev |
| Fifth-Round Pick (2024) | First-Round Pick (2025) |
| Fifth-Round Pick (2025) | Second-Round Pick (2026) |
Adding Muzzin was a big step for the franchise, but he isn’t even the best trade deadline acquisition of a ‘Jake M.’ on this list. In 2023, Dubas pulled the trigger on a deal for Jake McCabe as part of an ambitious deadline effort that also landed O’Reilly and helped push the Maple Leafs past the Lightning that spring. He was brought in from the Chicago Blackhawks alongside Sam Lafferty and a pair of fifth-round picks in exchange for Joey Anderson, Pavel Gogolev, a first-round pick and a second-rounder.
It doesn’t look like Anderson or Gogolev will amount to much, and the true cost of the draft picks lost won’t be fully known for several years (ironically, prospect Miroslav Holinka was selected with the first of two fifth-rounders acquired by Toronto and looks to be off to a promising start with the Western Hockey League’s Edmonton Oil Kings). The Maple Leafs’ side of the deal, however, has been a clear hit.
McCabe blended in seamlessly with what is now a bona fide top-four defensive core and continues to gain a bigger role as time goes on. In the playoffs, he recovered from a tough 2023 postseason run (two assists and a minus-7 rating in 11 games) to solidify the unit last season while logging 21:24 of ice time per game over Toronto’s seven-game series against the Boston Bruins. Now, under Berube, he’s averaging a career-high 21:28 (good for third on the team behind Rielly and Mitch Marner).
McCabe was poised to be part of an impressive class of Maple Leafs’ free agents this summer, along with Marner and John Tavares, but he agreed to terms on a five-year, $22.55 million contract extension in October, ensuring he will be in Toronto long-term.
1) Jack Campbell
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Los Angeles Kings |
| G Jack Campbell | F Trevor Moore |
| F Kyle Clifford | Third-Round Pick (2020) |
| Third-Round Pick (2021) |
It’s important to distinguish between the Jack Campbell that starred for the Maple Leafs from 2020 through 2022 and the one who crashed out soon after signing a massive five-year, $25 million free-agent deal with the Edmonton Oilers and had to be bought out.
It was Toronto, after all, that enjoyed the fruits of the stellar run of goaltending from Campbell that netted him a big contract in the summer of 2022. With Frederik Andersen struggling with injuries and backup Michael Hutchinson struggling to fill the void, the Maple Leafs bolstered their depth between the pipes by acquiring Campbell from the Kings. Coming east with veteran tough guy Kyle Clifford, they were brought in at the expense of young forward Trevor Moore and two third-rounders.
Campbell didn’t have much to do that season since the NHL would shut down just over a month later due to the pandemic. However, he shone in tandem duty alongside Andersen the following season, going 17-3-2 with a .921% save percentage (SV%) and a 2.15 goals-against average (GAA) in 22 games. One season later, he was anointed as the No. 1 option and rewarded the organization for their faith by posting a 31-9-6 mark with a .914% SV% and a 2.64 GAA. It was that 2020-21 performance that earned him an All-Star nod, not to mention that lucrative (and ill-advised) contract.
To their credit, the Kings did well to extract value out of the return for Campbell. Trevor Moore had a 31-goal campaign last season, while draft selection Alex Laferriere has established himself as a lineup mainstay and has recorded 15 goals this season. Clifford, for his part, added some gritty veteran influence to both the Maple Leafs and the Marlies and remains a part of Toronto’s AHL feeder team.
Still, this trade is all about Campbell, and specifically, how valuable he was to the Maple Leafs as a calming presence in net during the 2021-22 season.
There is only one Stanley Cup champion each season, so to evaluate every trade according to championship success is setting everyone up for disappointment. All of these deals provided value beyond the season in which the trade was made. All of the incoming players have played a significant role in helping the Maple Leafs, even if their contributions haven’t yet helped the club achieve their ultimate goal.
