Trade Deadline Primer: Toronto Maple Leafs
With the 4 Nations Face-Off now complete, the trade deadline looms large and is just a few weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 2024-25 campaign marks the ninth year in a row the Maple Leafs are vying for a Stanley Cup championship since their competitive window re-opened in 2016-17. Toronto is in the 58th year of their Stanley Cup drought and they’ll have as good an opportunity as any to break that this season. Although it’s still the most competitive division in the NHL, the Eastern Conference feels more open than in years past which should motivate the Maple Leafs to be aggressive at this year’s deadline.
Record
33-20-2, 2nd in the Atlantic Division
Deadline Status
Buyers
Deadline Cap Space
$2.201MM on deadline day + $3.570MM LTIR pool, 0/3 retention spots used, 48/50 contract spots used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: FLA 2nd, EDM 3rd, TOR 5th, TOR 6th, TOR 7th
2026: TOR 1st, TOR 3rd, TOR 5th, SJ 6th
Trade Chips
This is where things get interesting for Toronto. The only draft pick worth meaningful value is their 2026 first-round pick but recent history may dissuade them from moving it. The Maple Leafs traded a boatload of first-round picks during the Kyle Dubas administration with only one Round Two appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Toronto was again engaged in some of the market’s top names last season but ultimately played around the edges. The Maple Leafs acquired Joel Edmundson, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Connor Dewar near last year’s deadline. The highest-valued asset general manager Brad Treliving parted with is a 2024 third-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick.
The Maple Leafs have legitimate prospects such as Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan, and Ben Danford with whom they could part ways to land an impact player. Although Treliving didn’t appear interested in moving big-name prospects in his first year at the helm of the Maple Leafs, he’s no stranger to big moves. During his time as general manager of the Calgary Flames, Treliving brought in the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, and Nikita Zadorov via trade. If Treliving warms to moving a first-round pick or top prospect, Toronto has the pieces to put themselves in a good spot for the deadline. 
Team Needs
1) Third-Line Center: Assuming Auston Matthews and John Tavares remain healthy the rest of the way, the Maple Leafs would have difficulty improving their top-six centers. Still, Max Domi‘s 46.9% success rate in the faceoff dot hasn’t done much to inspire confidence in his abilities down the middle. Toronto could move Domi to the left wing alongside Tavares and William Nylander on the second if they acquire an above-average third-line center at the deadline. This strategy rests on what they’re willing to move. The Maple Leafs have plenty of options such as Ryan O’Reilly, Brock Nelson, Brayden Schenn, Jake Evans, and Scott Laughton but it’ll ultimately depend on how aggressive they’re willing to be.
2) Top-Four Right-Handed Defenseman: Potentially a more pressing need is Toronto’s lack of options on the right side of their defense in the top four. Chris Tanev has been exactly what they’ve needed him to be but the only right-handed options behind him are Conor Timmins and Philippe Myers. No offense to that duo but neither are expected to strike fear in opposing teams come postseason play. Again, the solution depends on the pieces the Maple Leafs put in play. Toronto should be involved in the markets for Colton Parayko, David Savard, or Rasmus Ristolainen, with any of the three being realistic additions.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Pacific Notes: Golden Knights, Boeser, Kovalenko, Rutta
Aside from the Boston Bruins losing Charlie McAvoy, the Vegas Golden Knights are another team that lost an impact player during the 4 Nations Face-Off. According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, the Golden Knights don’t have any new updates regarding defenseman Shea Theodore‘s injury status. However, head coach Bruce Cassidy provided updates on another pair of injured players.
Forwards William Karlsson and Cole Schwindt have resumed regular skating making their returns imminent. Neither Karlsson nor Schwindt has played in a game for Vegas in February as they’re both dealing with lower-body injuries. The former has been impacted by injuries for much of the 2024-25 campaign as he’s only managed seven goals and 18 points in 38 appearances.
Meanwhile, the positive injury updates continue as the team is expected to activate (X Link) forward Tanner Pearson for tonight’s contest against the Vancouver Canucks. Pearson missed the Golden Knights’ final two games before the break due to an undisclosed injury. The former 20-goal scorer has notched nine goals and 19 points in 53 games for Vegas this season averaging 12:01 of ice time per night.
Other Pacific notes:
- Vancouver could be headed for treacherous waters with their pending unrestricted free agent forward Brock Boeser. The team has been playing too well to warrant moving Boeser at the deadline but not much traction has been made for a potential extension. In an article from Thomas Drance in The Athletic, he argues the Canucks will treat Boeser as their own rental for the deadline. Still, Drance argues that if Vancouver significantly falters leading up to March 7th, that could make a Boeser trade more palatable from their perspective.
- According to San Jose beat writer Curtis Pashelka, forward Nikolai Kovalenko nor defenseman Jan Rutta are expected to join the San Jose Sharks on their upcoming road trip. Pashelka adds that Rutta is still relatively far from a return, which could affect his trade value at the upcoming deadline. Rutta is a pending unrestricted free agent right-handed shot defenseman who would likely have some value as a potential depth option for a contending team.
Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Matt Tomkins
Regular backup netminder Jonas Johansson won’t be ready to return after all following the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. The Tampa Bay Lightning announced they’ve recalled Matt Tomkins from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and he’ll serve as a backup tomorrow night.
Today’s roster move marks Tomkins’ third call-up since the end of January. It hasn’t made too much of a difference for him personally, as Tomkins still hasn’t stepped on the ice for the Lightning outside of practice and warm-ups.
He’s spent the 2024-25 season as the ‘1B’ option with AHL Syracuse. Splitting the crease with the impressive Brandon Halverson, Tomkins has managed a 9-9-5 record in 22 games with a .911 save percentage and 2.54 goals-against average including three shutouts.
It’s objectively been the best professional year of his career up to this point. Unfortunately, being 30 years old, Tomkins doesn’t have much long-term value within the Lightning organization.
Given Johansson’s injury struggles of late, and the pair of older options in the AHL, goaltending could become a secondary focus for the Lightning at the trade deadline. Tampa Bay has a more pressing need at the forward position but the team may look to improve their backup option. Fortunately, the Lightning have the privilege of deploying Andrei Vasilevskiy on most nights, who’s no stranger to playing in 60 or more games a season.
Carolina Hurricanes Activate Tyson Jost
The Carolina Hurricanes are getting back one of their depth forwards for tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to a team release, the Hurricanes have activated forward Tyson Jost from their injured reserve.
As one of the lengthier injury absences of his career, Jost missed the last 19 games with a lower-body injury. Still, it wasn’t a major loss for Carolina given he’s registered two goals in 16 games throughout the 2024-25 campaign. That hasn’t been his only action this year.
After clearing waivers at the beginning of the season, Jost has split his year between the Hurricanes and their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. His production has understandably been better with AHL Chicago as he’s scored four goals and nine points in 14 games.
Unless Carolina acquires another depth forward at the trade deadline Jost should spend the rest of the regular season with the Hurricanes. They would need to pass him through the waiver wire again and it’s not expected they’ll be as successful as they were in October. Most contending teams will look for cheap injury insurance this time of the year while deadline sellers will look to fill open roster spots. Jost’s league-minimum salary could make him an enticing choice for most teams should he go on waivers again.
Buffalo Sabres Activate Jordan Greenway, Mattias Samuelsson
The Buffalo Sabres have a pair of veterans back tonight for their game against the New York Rangers. Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News passed along a note from the NHL’s media site saying the Sabres had activated forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson from the injured reserve.
It’s been a long road back for Greenway. The pending unrestricted free agent hasn’t suited up in a game since December 15th due to an undisclosed injury. Considering the three weeks missed from mid-November to early December, Greenway has only participated in 20 games this season.
He hasn’t improved his free agency market when healthy either. Greenway scored three goals and seven points leading up to the injury averaging 15:55 of ice time per game. He’s still a physical forward averaging approximately three hits a game but he shouldn’t expect a payday close to his current $3.5MM salary. Furthermore, it’s difficult to argue that Greenway should still be considered an effective middle-six winger unless he can string together a few healthy seasons.
Meanwhile, Samuelsson returns to the lineup after missing two games leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off break due to a small fracture in his foot. Unfortunately, those two absences followed 17 others throughout the year. Samuelsson can only reach 63 games played this season should he remain healthy.
On a positive note, 63 games played would become a new career-high for Samuelsson. The Philadelphia, PA native maxed out at 55 games played during the 2022-23 season — just before signing a seven-year, $30MM extension with Buffalo. Still, the Sabres will have a completely healthy lineup for tonight’s game against the Rangers.
New Jersey Devils Activate Nico Hischier
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier will play his first game in approximately a month. New Jersey has officially activated their eight-year center ahead of tonight’s contest against the Dallas Stars.
Hischier’s activation was expected given he’s been regularly skating for the past few weeks. Thanks to the two-week 4 Nations Face-Off break, Hischier only missed six games due to the oblique injury. The Devils managed a 3-3-0 record in his absence.
The Brig, Switzerland native was on pace for the second-best offensive season of his career and likely still could. Hischier scored 24 goals and 43 points in 51 games leading up to the injury, which puts him 24 points behind his 67-point output in 71 games last year. Still, thanks to his hot streak to start the 2024-25 campaign, it is likely Hischier will surpass his career-high of 31 goals in a single season.
Despite a healthy forward core, New Jersey will still be shorthanded this evening. Netminder Jacob Markström and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler continue to recover from their knee and lower-body injuries respectively. Those injuries shouldn’t create an insurmountable hurdle for the Devils to overcome.
Even without their top goaltender, New Jersey has averaged 2.28 goals-against per game while maintaining their plus-3.00 goals-for average. Being efficient in the faceoff dot, displaying above-average possession metrics, and scoring nearly every other game this season, Hischier should help the Devils improve in both categories even further.
Tampa Bay Lightning Assign Jesse Ylönen To AHL
Saturday: It turned out to be a one-and-done recall for Ylönen as a day after being recalled, the Lightning announced that he has been sent back to Syracuse.
Friday: Ahead of their return to regular season hockey on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning are bringing a depth forward to the NHL level. The Lightning announced they’d recalled forward Jesse Ylönen from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and he could debut with the team against the Seattle Kraken.
Still, there’s a decent chance Ylönen won’t debut either. Tampa Bay is likely without forwards Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, and Anthony Cirelli due to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship contest yesterday so Ylönen may serve as a practice player for a day or two.
Ylönen signed a one-year, $775K contract with the Lightning last offseason after spending the first four years of his North American career in the Montreal Canadiens organization. The Scottsdale, AZ native scored 12 goals and 29 points in 112 games in Montreal including another 34 goals and 85 points in 120 games with their affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
Due to the depth and health of their forward core, Tampa Bay hasn’t had much use for Ylönen at the NHL level this season. This has allowed him plenty of playing time with the Crunch, scoring eight goals and 25 points in 47 games. That offensive production is good for third in scoring on the team putting Ylönen 11 points shy of his career-high output in a lone AHL campaign.
Utah Hockey Club Assign Jaxson Stauber To AHL
Saturday: Stauber has been returned to the Roadrunners, per a team announcement. That means Ingram will be available to dress tonight versus Los Angeles.
Tuesday: According to the AHL transactions site, the Utah Hockey Club has recalled third-string netminder Jaxson Stauber from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. The recall likely means that goaltender Connor Ingram hasn’t fully recovered from the upper-body injury suffered in the team’s last game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
After taking a high shot from Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, Ingram left the game after 12:38 of ice time. Utah’s head coach, André Tourigny didn’t provide any recovery timeline for Ingram other than saying, “No, I don’t know what his status is at this point. He will be evaluated, but we’ll see.”
Stauber has largely played in the AHL in his first year outside the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Still, he was recalled to the NHL in late November due to another upper-body injury to Ingram. Many of the starts went to Karel Vejmelka over that stretch but Stauber still managed a 2-1-1 record in four starts with a .925 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average.
That likely beat expectations that the Utah coaching staff had for Stauber considering his relatively modest production in AHL Tucson. Matt Villalta has been the primary starter for the Roadrunners this season but Stauber has still gotten involved in 14 contests. The Wayzata, Minnesota, native has secured an 8-5-2 record in those 14 games with a .901 SV% and 3.07 GAA.
Seattle Kraken Activate Jordan Eberle From LTIR
Saturday: As expected, the Kraken announced that Eberle will indeed return to Seattle’s lineup today against Florida.
Monday: According to the AHL transactions page, the Seattle Kraken have officially recalled forward Jordan Eberle from his conditioning loan with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. Seattle still needs to activate Eberle from the team’s long-term injured reserve but all signs indicate he’ll return for the Kraken’s first game after the 4 Nations Face-Off break this Saturday.
It’ll be Eberle’s first game in almost 100 days should he suit up against the Florida Panthers this weekend. Seattle’s second captain in franchise history underwent surgery to repair a pelvic injury suffered in the team’s November 14th matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The injury was certainly a buzzkill for Eberle after getting off to a quick start to the 2024-25 campaign. The Regina, Saskatchewan native scored six goals and 11 points through his first 17 games this season before succumbing to the pelvic injury. That 0.65 point-per-game average would have put Eberle around the 53-point total if he continued that pace over all the Kraken’s games this year.
That would have made for his second-best offensive output as a member of the Kraken. Eberle finished his first year with the club with 21 goals and 44 points in 79 games only to explode for 63 points a year later. The former sniper for the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders dropped back to 44 points last season setting him up for a potential rebound year in 2024-25.
Hindsight being 20/20, Eberle has lost that opportunity. He’ll max out at 42 games played this season if he plays in Seattle’s remaining 25 contests setting a new career-low. Still, Eberle will have one year and $4.75MM left on his contract after this season meaning he’ll have one more chance at a quality payday heading into his age 36 campaign.
Injury Notes: Hughes, Pettersson, Anderson, Crosby
The Vancouver Canucks could be a few star players short in their first game back out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Head coach Rick Tocchett (shared via Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre) confirmed that forward Elias Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes won’t be available against the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow due to injuries.
No report specified what type of injury Pettersson is dealing with but he’s only expected to miss a day or two. Meanwhile, Hughes’ oblique injury precluded him from participating in the international hockey tournament although he did attempt to return for the championship bout between Canada and the United States.
Vancouver entered the 4 Nations Face-Off break on the heels of a 6-1-1 record. Pettersson and Hughes could miss the second half of the back-to-back against the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday but the club could become increasingly uneasy should their absences extend further.
Other injury notes:
- According to The Athletic’s Eric Stephens, the Los Angeles Kings are expected to welcome back defenseman Michael Anderson against the Utah Hockey Club tomorrow night. The six-year pro missed the last four games before the 4 Nations Face-Off because of a finger injury. Los Angeles still needs to activate Anderson from the injured reserve but his return will give the Kings a healthy lineup to start the final stretch of the regular season.
- Despite playing in all four of Canada’s games for the 4 Nations Face-Off, captain Sidney Crosby may not be ready to return to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported earlier that Crosby will be a game-time decision for tomorrow afternoon’s action against the Washington Capitals. Yohe didn’t specify whether Crosby is dealing with a minor injury or needs another day of rest from the hotly-contested event. The future Hall of Famer finished his sixth championship-winning international event with one goal and four assists.