- Before yesterday’s AHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs’ affiliate made a move. Per a release from Chicago’s farm team in Rockford, the Marlies acquired winger Brandon Baddock in exchange for future considerations. The 29-year-old has seven points and 86 penalty minutes in 38 games this season but was often scratched due to the IceHogs having one veteran over the limit. That shouldn’t be the case for Baddock with Toronto, giving him a chance to play more down the stretch. Baddock has one career NHL game under his belt from back in the 2021-22 season.
Maple Leafs Rumors
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Toronto Maple Leafs
Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR is looking at every NHL team and giving a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Atlantic Division, next up is the Maple Leafs.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Current Cap Hit: $90,148,437 (over the $88MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Matthew Knies (one year, $925K)
Knies is quickly looking like one of the better-value picks of the 2021 draft. He debuted for the Leafs late in the 2022-23 season after his sophomore campaign at the University of Minnesota and has since skated almost exclusively in top-six roles. He has 76 career points in 139 games, second in the draft among non-first rounders behind the Lightning’s J.J. Moser. Luckily for Toronto, his strong performance won’t activate any performance bonuses in his contract – all of his ELC compensation is through base salary and signing bonuses. However, that will incentivize Knies to push for more money in contract negotiations this summer after agreeing to limit his earning potential through his first few NHL seasons.
Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level
D Jani Hakanpää ($1.47MM, UFA)
F Pontus Holmberg ($800K, RFA)
F Steven Lorentz ($775K, UFA)
F Mitch Marner ($10.903MM, UFA)
F Max Pacioretty ($874K, UFA)
F Nicholas Robertson ($875K, RFA)
F John Tavares ($11MM, UFA)
After his 2023-24 campaign with the Stars ended prematurely due to a knee injury, the Leafs picked up Hakanpää as a cheap shutdown option on the right side (but not without some lengthy drama). Lingering knee issues limited him to just a pair of appearances back in November, though, and it’s all but certain he won’t return this season. Holmberg likely doesn’t have a ton of room left to grow at age 26, but the versatile Swede has been a nice fit in Toronto’s bottom six this season and has even been elevated to the second line with John Tavares on brief occasions. He’s averaging north of 13 minutes per game and is encroaching on his career high in points, so he’ll likely be brought back on a low-cost deal in the $1MM range.
Lorentz has been a nice pickup after a successful training camp tryout, appearing in nearly every game for the Leafs after serving as a frequent healthy scratch for the Panthers last year. He’s scored 14 points in 63 games while leading the team’s forwards with 156 hits, so it stands to reason they’ll try to bring him back on a sub-$1MM deal. Pacioretty, also a PTO pickup, seems like he’ll be one-and-done in Toronto after continued injury troubles have limited him to 13 points in 37 games, failing to hold onto a top-six job (and posting subpar defensive metrics when doing so). Robertson requested a trade last summer and, after it didn’t come to fruition, has seen his offensive production drop slightly from last year. He could be a non-tender option if the Leafs can’t find a taker for his signing rights.
The big fish are unquestionably the duo of Marner and Tavares. The former has had a spectacular campaign and still has a chance to finally crack the 100-point mark for the first time in his career, leading the Leafs in scoring with 80 points through 64 games. He’s also been Toronto’s most-deployed forward on the penalty kill this season at 2:16 per game. Easily the Leafs’ most valuable skater this season, no extension is imminent – especially after his name was thrown out in trade talks for Mikko Rantanen at the deadline. Pending his playoff performance, Toronto will likely need to step into the $13MM range annually on a max-term deal to keep him from looking elsewhere on the open market. Tavares is still chugging along with 56 points in 58 games in his age-34 season but is in line for a multi-million dollar pay cut next season, wherever he ends up. The former captain is open to continuing negotiations down the stretch and shouldn’t exceed the $8MM threshold on what’s likely to be a three-to-four-year pact.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Matt Benning ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Calle Järnkrok ($2.1MM, UFA)
F Scott Laughton ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Bobby McMann ($1.35MM, UFA)
F Ryan Reaves ($1.35MM, UFA)
G Anthony Stolarz ($2.5MM, UFA)
Benning and Reaves won’t be brought back at the end of their deals – if they’re even still in Toronto at that point. The former hasn’t suited up for the Leafs after they acquired him from the Sharks early this season in the Timothy Liljegren trade. Toronto waived him shortly after the deal, and after there were no takers on the wire, they sent him to their AHL affiliate. The 30-year-old righty has played just 21 NHL games since the beginning of last year and has just eight points in 33 AHL games. Reaves, a last-of-his-kind enforcer, hasn’t captured an everyday role and even landed on waivers last week to open up some pre-deadline financial flexibility.
Järnkrok was a solid depth pickup for the Leafs in free agency in 2022, although injuries have significantly hampered his availability over the past two years. He just got back into the lineup this month after missing most of the year following groin surgery. He’ll be 34 next summer and could likely replicate his current AAV, likely even with a slight raise amid a rising cap, on a short-term deal. Toronto just picked up Laughton at the deadline from the Flyers, who are retaining half of his full $3MM cap hit. The consistent 30-to-40-point center likely won’t be in line for a pay cut barring a disastrous 2025-26 outing.
McMann and Stolarz are the two names likely to see considerable increases on their next deals. The former is a late bloomer, but now at age 28 has emerged as a legitimate top-nine piece. He’s scored at a 23-goal pace per 82 games over the last two seasons and could conceivably sniff the $4MM mark on his next deal. Stolarz, who will set a new career-high in starts this year and is tied for second in the league with a .920 SV%, stands to double his cap hit on a short-term deal considering how quickly salaries for 1A tandem netminders are rising.
Signed Through 2026-27
D Simon Benoit ($1.35MM, UFA)
D Brandon Carlo ($3.485MM, UFA)
F David Kämpf ($2.4MM, UFA)
D Philippe Myers ($850K in 2025-26 and 2026-27, UFA)
None of the players in this group are true impact pieces outside of potentially Carlo, who the Leafs managed to snag from the rival Bruins at the deadline with a decent chunk of salary retention despite there being two years left on his deal. A longtime bona fide top-four shutdown righty in Boston, he’s the Hakanpää upgrade they were looking for and will remain under contract for Toronto at an under-market-value price. Whether his level of play holds up enough for a pay rise at age 30 in 2027 remains to be seen.
Benoit and Myers’ term means the Leafs don’t have to worry about building out their depth defense. Both will likely alternate between bottom-pairing usage and nights in the press box for the remainder of their deals. Kämpf gives Toronto security at the fourth-line center slot, but that’s a steep price tag for his meager offensive production (10 points in 52 games), even considering the pending salary cap rise and his shorthanded deployment. It’s not expensive enough to truly be classified as an anchor deal, but his deal sticks out as an inefficiency on the Leafs’ books.
Toronto Maple Leafs Activate Chris Tanev
According to a team announcement, the Toronto Maple Leafs have activated defenseman Chris Tanev from their injured reserve. Tanev’s activation was alluded to in an earlier report from David Alter of The Hockey News.
Tanev’s activation before tonight’s contest against the Florida Panthers will limit his games missed to six. His last contest came against the Boston Bruins on February 25th, when Tanev left the game after two shifts following a hit along the boards from John Beecher. The rugged blueliner was seen donning a sling after the contest.
Since he only missed a handful of games, and Toronto was already well-within playoff positioning, Tanev’s absence wasn’t crippling to the Maple Leafs but it was noticeable. PHR’s Josh Erickson summed up the areas lacking in Toronto’s game throughout Tanev’s absence, writing, “They’ve struggled to control play at 5-on-5 with a 43.7 CF%, a number Tanev’s return will undoubtedly help boost. While his raw 47.4 CF% at even strength on the year isn’t particularly impressive, he dominates shot quality over quantity and leads the team with a +8.8 expected rating and +26 actual rating.”
Although the Maple Leafs would undoubtedly prefer Tanev to participate in every game this season, his return arguably couldn’t come at a better time. Toronto will share the top spot in the Atlantic Division should they best Florida tonight, although the Panthers have the first tiebreaker. Still, with two more games against Florida remaining on the schedule after tonight, Tanev and the Maple Leafs should be locked in a heated battle down the stretch for home-ice advantage through the first two postseason rounds.
East Notes: Tanev, Ristolainen, Kucherov
The Maple Leafs could have defenseman Chris Tanev back in the lineup tonight. Head coach Craig Berube told reporters this morning, including David Alter of The Hockey News, he’ll be a game-time decision for a key matchup against the Panthers in the Atlantic Division title race. The 35-year-old has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury. It’s believed to be a shoulder issue. He left a Feb. 25 game against the Bruins after taking a hit into the boards from Boston forward John Beecher, ending his contest after one shift. The Leafs have gone 3-2-1 in his absence, treading water without their top shutdown defender, but have allowed 4.17 goals per game over that stretch. They’ve struggled to control play at 5-on-5 with a 43.7 CF%, a number Tanev’s return will undoubtedly help boost. While his raw 47.4 CF% at even strength on the year isn’t particularly impressive, he dominates shot quality over quantity and leads the team with a +8.8 expected rating and +26 actual rating. He also ranks fifth in the league with 151 blocked shots.
More out of the Eastern Conference:
- Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen will be held out of the lineup for tonight’s game against Tampa as he nurses a minor injury, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports. The 30-year-old was a speculative trade candidate at last week’s deadline but stayed put amid a lack of interest given general manager Daniel Brière’s reportedly high asking price. He’s thrived in a defensively-oriented role this year, posting a career-high plus-three rating while averaging 20:31 per game on a Philly squad with a -24 goal differential at 5-on-5. 24-year-old lefty Yegor Zamula will replace him in the lineup after sitting as a scratch for Tuesday’s game against the Senators, the team announced.
- Lightning star winger Nikita Kucherov remains less than 100%. The 31-year-old wasn’t a participant in today’s morning skate, per the team’s Gabby Shirley, an increasingly frequent occurrence in recent days. While he has five points in his last four outings, he hasn’t logged over 20 minutes of ice time in any of them and played just 15:17 against the Hurricanes on Tuesday. He still has 28-64–92 in 61 appearances this year, the third-highest points-per-game pace of his future Hall-of-Fame career. Head coach Jon Cooper confirmed Kucherov is dealing with an illness and will be a game-time decision.
Latest On The Mikko Rantanen Trade Saga
It is a very rare feat that a player is traded in the middle of a 100-point season. One has to look as far back as Joe Thornton’s blockbuster move from the Boston Bruins to the San Jose Sharks in 2005, or Teemu Selanne’s move from the Winnipeg Jets to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1995. It is near unprecedented that a 100-point scorer gets moved twice in the same year. But that’s exactly what transpired at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, after top winger Mikko Rantanen – pacing for 107 points before his first move – was dealt first to the Carolina Hurricanes and then to the Dallas Stars.
Both trades were groundbreaking. The first moved Rantanen away from the Colorado Avalanche after a decade with the organization; and the second marked the absolute peak of hurt feelings, poor fits, and extension negotiations. With the rare moves has come plenty of media attention, painstakingly scrutinizing the pair of deals from every angle. That has teased out plenty about the motivations and frustrations that drove Rantanen’s cross-country journeys.
The saga began when negotiations on a new contract extension between the Avalanche and Rantanen fell flat. The winger wanted a premium payment after posting career-years in each of the last two seasons – 105 points in 2022-23 and 104 points last year. But Colorado didn’t want to exceed their internal cap limit, and capped their offer to Rantanen at an eight-year, $93.2MM extension – or $11.65MM in per-season salary. But the Finnish wing wasn’t willing to dip that low. Rantanen conceded to take less than Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl, who earned $14MM on his own extension – but wouldn’t settle for too much lower than Avalanche co-star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6MM salary.
Ultimately, it seems the Avalanche and Rantanen were roughly $1MM apart on a new deal. Rather than trying to continue sparring – or risk bending their internal cap – Colorado opted to flip their superstar without much second thought. Rantanen shared he was shocked by the sudden move, which moved him to the Hurricanes alongside Taylor Hall in exchange for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick. At the time, Rantanen told Corey Masisak of The Denver Post, “I was ready to take a significant discount for my market value. We had some chats, like a couple days before. Then they traded me. That’s what happened. That’s why I didn’t expect what happened.”
Apparently, Rantanen’s frustrations over the trade boiled into his first days in Carolina. To make matters worse, he left for the 4-Nations Face-Off tournament just over a week after playing in his first Hurricanes game – uprooting him as he tried to adjust to the new setting. With so much swirling around the move, it seemed Rantanen wasn’t ever going to be comfortable in Carolina. Canes head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Sportsnet that Rantanen laid it out flat from day one, telling him “There’s four teams I’ll go play for, but [Carolina] is not one of them.” Those are harsh words for an incoming addition – and made it clear that Rantanen had no indication of re-signing in his new destination. That held true even as Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky began his own negotiations, reportedly offering Rantanen as much as $12.6MM and showing the flexibility to go up to Draisaitl’s $14MM mark if need be.
With that, it was back to the open market for Rantanen. He had four landing spots top of mind but the Hurricanes received rich interest from across the league. The New Jersey Devils were the first team attached to the second market, and were quickly joined by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers, and Dallas Stars.
Negotiations stalled out at different points with each team, but were said to go well down towards completion with Toronto, Edmonton, and Dallas. The Leafs are said to have offered a compelling package of top prospects Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan, and draft capital for the 100-point scorer – but Carolina countered with a package involving Toronto’s own star winger Mitch Marner. Marner was unwilling to waive his full no-movement clause for the move – ultimately caving talks in.
With one Canadian club dissatisfied, Carolina moved on to talks with the Edmonton Oilers – who were able to better match Rantanen’s desires for an extension, but couldn’t put together a return strong enough to sway the Hurricanes brass. That’s certainly no surprise. Edmonton has just one pick in the top two rounds of the 2025 or 2026 drafts – a second in the latter year. Their prospect pool is also relatively scant, headlined by Matthew Savoie with little depth behind him.
Where one bed is too soft – banked on future assets and inter-conference matchups – and the other is too hard – stuffed with filler to make up for lacking future pieces – Carolina was able to finally land on a perfect middle-ground in Dallas. The Stars are quickly turning into a wagon, with star veterans Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn continuing to perform (when healthy) while youngsters like Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley plant their feet at the top of the lineup. With that momentum, and a clear path to the postseason, Dallas was able to shed some layers to land a big fish. They offered Carolina high-upside youngster Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks in exchange for Rantanen – an offer far more impactful in the short and long term than Toronto or Edmonton mustered up.
But the move to Dallas wasn’t immediately fruitful. The Stars formed the framework of the trade, but needed to land an extension with Rantanen before things could go through. Dallas wasn’t nearly as liberal with their wallets as some of Rantanen’s other options, and held firm to the $12MM-per-year mark on a new deal. That number came in $500K less than what Carolina had offered Rantanen, which initially put the winger off and seemed to push the deal towards falling flat. But diligent negotiating, and surely a desire to end this saga, ultimately forced Rantanen to cave. He signed an eight-year, $96MM extension with Dallas on the day of the Trade Deadline – finally (finally) landing him in a place where he could plant his feet.
On the organizational level, it seems everyone emerged from the jungle happy. Colorado
landed a major contributor in Necas, who already has 17 points in 16 games as MacKinnon’s new right-winger. Carolina may have lost that point-per-game scoring, but they reeled back in one of the league’s top 23-year-olds, and the draft capital to be satisfied even if he doesn’t pan out. And Dallas added a 100-point scorer to an organization that’s only had one – 2022-23 Jason Robertson – since 1990.
But the deal gets murky as you dig deeper. After beginning the saga with a surprising move to Carolina, Rantanen now finds himself standing directly opposite of his old battery-mate MacKinnon. Colorado and Dallas have fought for majority control of the Central Division for years, intermittently upended by the Winnipeg Jets or Minnesota Wild. It’s not exactly a two-horse race, but Dallas’ success hinges on their ability to beat Colorado in the regular and post seasons – and vice versa. The two sides have already faced off twice this season, splitting the results. They have one more meeting – on Sunday, March 16th – which will give Rantanen a chance to test out facing his former club before they likely reconvene in the playoffs. While all of Rantanen’s matches with the Stars will be closely watched – it will be those meetings against Colorado that many find the most telling, after a trade saga that dragged through months of confusion and rumors.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Poll: Where Will Mitch Marner End Up If He Doesn’t Re-Sign?
Trade rumors have followed Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner throughout his entire career. Buzz of a bad fit started early, then developed into talks of poor relationships with his teammates, and have since turned into talks of a trade to an endless list of teams. Through it all, Marner has stood as nothing but consistent on Toronto’s top line. He’s scored above a 1.20 point-per-game pace every year since 2021, making him Toronto’s second-highest scorer on a per-game basis behind his superstar centerman Auston Matthews.
But Marner’s eight-figure contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and the most recent rumors claim he leveraged his full no-movement clause to block a move to the Carolina Hurricanes at the Trade Deadline. That movement has put Marner, and his future with the Maple Leafs, back at the focus of many NHL circles.
Marner is putting together a career year on the precipice of a brand new contract. He has 21 goals and 79 points in 62 games – an 82-game pace of 27 goals and 104 points. That would break Marner into the century scoring club for the first time in his career, topping his previous career-high of 99 points in 80 games of the 2022-23 campaign. He was narrowly close to setting the mark when he scored 85 points in 69 games last season – a full-year pace of 101 points – but injuries held Marner from reaching the top echelon of NHL scorers.
In fact, that’s been a frequent storyline throughout Marner’s career. He’s played in at least 70 games just five different times in his eight-year career – not yet including the 81 games he’s on pace for this year. Three of those full campaigns came in Marner’s first three years in the NHL. He’s a slight forward, standing at six-feet tall and 180-pounds – making him far more susceptible to the heavy hits of top NHL defenders than a player like Matthews. But while his injuries have been frequent, they haven’t yet proven too detrimental. Marner has still eclipsed 60 points in every single season of his career – a stat line that’s studded with 50 points in 57 career playoff games.
Marner certainly gets support from star company in Toronto, but his pedigree has
only grown in recent years. He’s established himself as one of the NHL’s niftiest playmakers, capable of driving downhill with tempo and making slick moves through defenders to find teammates or take advantage of an open net. Those attributes are at the top of some teams priority list as they approach the off-season looking to add a star score. Marner’s pros could be enough to entice a cap-rich team like the Buffalo Sabres or Columbus Blue Jackets to go out of their way with a high bid offer to ensure they land Marner’s services.
Any team looking to add Marner will have to keep his role on the wing at front of mind. That could pose a challenge for teams like Columbus who have players like Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson growing into superiority on their flanks. On the other hand, Marner’s s ability to support the middle lane could make a great fit for teams like Buffalo or the Calgary Flames who may have to account for their own top centers preferences to play out wide.
The free agent market has been set early by brand new Dallas Stars winger Mikko Rantanen, who signed an eight year extension with a yearly cap hit of $12MM. Marner was rumored to be offered in a swap for Rantanen at the deadline. He would reason to rival close to the dollar amount that Rantanen received. But on the open market and with Marner’s standing as a potentially catapulting piece for lineups on the fringe, he could see his yearly cap hit rise in north of $13MM after a bidding war. That number will be hard to bear for many teams around the league. But for the lucky few who could entertain it, Marner could offer a rare chance at landing a 100-point scorer on the open market.
Any speculation of Marner’s off-season availability is still just that. His refusal to move to Carolina at the deadline stands as a testament to his belonging on Toronto’s top line. While the team may need to mend relationships with their star right-winger after reportedly offering him up for trade, Marner has already assured that he’d rather play with the Leafs than go somewhere else midseason. Should that feeling change, Marner will enter the open market as the undeniable top name, now that Rantanen has signed a long-term deal.
That standing will bring with it plenty of attention, but only one team can win any Marner sweepstakes that forms. Who do you think it should be? Vote below:
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Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.
John Tavares Remains Open To Negotiations During The Season
TSN is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares remains open to negotiating a contract extension during the season and would like to stay in Toronto. Tavares told the media that Maple Leafs management knows how he feels, and he is aware that management wants to take their time in dealing with his contract situation.
Tavares is in the final year of a seven-year $77MM contract that he signed as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2018. The deal was signed at a time when the salary cap was expected to rise significantly, but that didn’t happen as the pandemic shortened seasons, flatlined league revenues, leading to a stagnant salary cap that handcuffed the Maple Leafs’ management from making other roster additions.
Tavares is unlikely to match the $11MM AAV on his next deal but should still get a lucrative multi-year deal. At 34 years of age, Tavares has slowed down but remains a near point-per-game player this season, tallying 24 goals and 29 assists in 55 games despite getting less ice time and less opportunity on the powerplay. Tavares has benefited this year from a 108.3 PDO (shooting percentage + save percentage) but that number is only slightly higher than his career average of 104.7.
The Maple Leafs have significant work to do this summer with Tavares and Mitch Marner both set to become UFAs. The priority will likely be Marner given his age and current play, however, Tavares would become one of the top available free agents if he does reach the market and would garner a lot of interest.
Hurricanes, Leafs Couldn’t Agree On Swap Of Mikko Rantanen And Mitch Marner
The fallout from the Trade Deadline is starting to settle, revealing more about the Carolina Hurricanes attempt to flip star winger Mikko Rantanen. The Dallas Stars ultimately won the sweepstakes, landing Rantanen and an eight-year extension in exchange for top young forward Logan Stankoven, two first round picks, and two third round picks. But Carolina had multiple other fish on the line, including getting well down the path to send Rantanen to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The deal ultimately fell apart because Toronto wasn’t willing to send winger Mitch Marner back the other way, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Like Rantanen before he signed in Dallas, Marner is a pending free agent who’s likely to demand a serious payday when he hits the open market. But Marner wasn’t willing to discuss an extension mid-season, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic. A long-term commitment was a prerequisite for the Hurricanes, leading to Toronto’s big splash falling to land. Johnston adds that the deal officially fell apart when Marner refused to waive his full no-movement clause.
Without Marner involved, Toronto’s final offer is said to have been top prospects Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan, and two first round picks per Nick Kypreos on Sportsnet 590. When that package was turned down, Toronto opted to instead send Minten, a first-round pick, and a fourth-round to the Boston Bruins for top defenseman Brandon Carlo. Carlo is under contract through the 2026-27 season at a manageable $3.625MM cap hit, after Boston retained 15 percent in the trade.
The implications of this deal would have been transformative. Marner has been deeply engrained on Toronto’s top line since making his NHL debut in 2016-17. He scored 61 points in 77 games as a rookie, and two seasons later scratched the century mark with 94 points in 82 games. Injuries and a shortened season held Marner to just 67 points in the next two seasons, but he found new heights when the NHL returned to full after the pandemic. Marner scored 35 goals and 97 points in 2021-22 and topped it with 99 points in 2022-23. Two years later, he’s on pace to confidently clear the 100-point mark this season, with 77 points in 61 games so far.
Marner would have certainly matched with Carolina’s top-end. He plays a high-skill, downhill style that could have fit well between the aggressive forechecking of Seth Jarvis and poised playmaking of Sebastian Aho. Instead, Carolina lands 22-year-old Stankoven to fill that role, after the latter scored 29 points in 59 games with Dallas. Stankoven brings a wave of hard-working grit and future stability to a Hurricanes program that’s earned a confident playoff spot in each of the last six seasons.
Through the thick of what could have been, Marner has doubled down on his commitment to the Leafs with this news. Presented with a chance for a short-term trip to Carolina before entering free agency, Marner has instead decided to hold true to the blue-and-white. He is set to enter unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career this summer, and has emphasized his desire to save contract talks for after the season. With plenty of time before Toronto plays their last games, Leafs fans can stand by this bode of confidence as an indication that Marner could be looking to stick around for even longer.
Maple Leafs Acquire Reese Johnson
It turns out all of the trades of the day weren’t in after all. The Maple Leafs have made a move to add a bit more forward depth, acquiring forward Reese Johnson from the Wild in exchange for future considerations. Both teams have confirmed the swap.
The 26-year-old has spent the majority of the season in the minors with AHL Iowa, collecting four goals and nine assists in 49 games. He also got into three games with Minnesota back in December but was held off the scoresheet in 9:32 of playing time per contest.
While Johnson hasn’t seen much action at the top level this season, he does have 144 career appearances under his belt. He got into 141 games with Chicago over the last four seasons, primarily playing on their fourth line. With them, he had seven goals, ten assists, and 450 hits while winning 51.7% of his faceoffs but the Blackhawks declined to tender him a qualifying offer last summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Johnson is playing on a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K in the NHL and $500K in the minors and will be RFA-eligible this summer with salary arbitration eligibility. Given his NHL experience, it’s unlikely he’d be tendered that offer as that would play a role in his awarded salary which would likely push him past the $1MM mark despite spending most of this year in the AHL.
As a result of their moves today, the Maple Leafs placed winger Max Pacioretty on LTIR and even with that, they only have $195K in cap room, per PuckPedia. Accordingly, Johnson will be ticketed to play with the AHL Marlies for the foreseeable future.
Maple Leafs Acquire Brandon Carlo In Three-Team Trade With Bruins, Penguins
7:15 PM: The Bruins announced their portion of the trade, confirming that they received Minten, a 2026 first-round pick (top-five protected), and a 2025 fourth-round selection for Carlo.
2:11 PM: The Maple Leafs have acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Bruins, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Leafs are sending center prospect Fraser Minten to the Bruins, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff adds it’s a three-team deal with the Penguins, who are receiving defenseman Conor Timmins and forward Connor Dewar from Toronto. The Leafs are sending a first-round pick to Boston in the deal as well, per Seravalli. Pittsburgh is sending a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Leafs in exchange for Timmins and Dewar, per the Maple Leafs. Additionally, Boston has retained 15 percent of Carlo’s $4.1MM salary, shares Joshua Kloke of The Athletic.
Through the mix of a three-team deal and hurdles over the cap space, Toronto lands an impactful shutdown defenseman in Carlo. He’s six-foot-five, 220
pounds and offers an invaluable right-hand shot. Those traits helped Carlo stamp out a daily lineup role almost immediately upon entering the league in 2016-17. Boston drafted Carlo in the second-round of the 2015 NHL Draft and promoted him to the pros at the end of the following season. He recorded just one assist in his first seven AHL games, but performed well enough at Boston’s following training camp to ditch the minor leagues entirely.
Carlo made the Bruins roster out of camp in the 2016-17 season. The team attempted to ease him into a lineup role, but one assist and a plus-five in 17 minutes of his NHL debut quickly showed Carlo’s impact would translate to the top flight. He was playing upwards of 24 minutes a night in just his third NHL game – and hung on to a top-pair role next to Bruins legend Zdeno Chara for the rest of his rookie season. Carlo managed 16 points, 59 penalty minutes, and a plus-nine while playing in all 82 games of his rookie year.
The top-pair conditioning continued to pay off through the next three seasons. Carlo never posted much scoring – netting his career-high of 19 points in 2019-20 – but he continued to average at least 20 minutes of ice time, on the pack of an imposing defensive presence. His role has dwindled in the years since, but his impact remains impressively consistent. Even through this season, the 28-year-old Carlo has managed nine points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 63 games.
Toronto could confidently turn towards Carlo for top-pair minutes for the remainder of the season. He’ll be a shining replacement for the injured Chris Tanev, who Toronto placed on injured reserve on March 2nd. When Tanev returns, Toronto will boast a pair of high-impact, low-scoring defensive-defenseman on the right side – complimenting the more offensively-geared Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the left.
Carlo is notably signed through the end of the 2026-27 season at a manageable $3.485MM cap hit after Boston’s retention.
While the Leafs sort of their sudden heap of defensive talent, Boston will relish in the addition of a clear top prospect in Fraser Minten. Minten made the Maple Leafs roster out of camp to start the season, and recorded four points – split evenly – across the first 15 games of his NHL career.
Minten was assigned to the AHL to start the season but quickly made Toronto second-guess their decision. He was called up to the NHL in mid-November after posting four points in five games to start the AHL season. Minten continued the hot scoring into his first taste of NHL action, netting four points across his first five NHL games of the season. His scoring dried up after that – with no scoring in his last 10 NHL games – but Minten has stayed productive in the minor leagues, where he has 13 points in 26 games.
This is Minten’s first season of professional hockey. He spent the last four seasons with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and, briefly, Saskatoon Blades. Minten totaled 188 points in 187 career games in the WHL, including 55 points in 67 games of the 2021-22 campaign. That was enough to earn him a second-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft – a divisive pick at the time. Minten also earned the honor of captaining Team Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championships, where he scored three points in five games. It was his first time representing Canada internationally.
Minten is still working on figuring out his pro footing but he’ll offer tantalizing upside once he’s level. He’s an impactful two-way centerman who is strong on the faceoff dot and smart with his positioning. Those traits could be tailor-made for a Bruins organization that’s already developed Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle into strong, top-six options.
The deal is rounded out by Toronto sending depth skaters Dewar and Timmins to the Penguins as a cap dump. That addition frees up $2.28MM in cap space for the Leafs, which will effectively be their only cap space for the remainder of the year. Both Dewar and Timmins could find a path to routine minutes for Pittsburgh, where they’ll play under former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.
Dewar has served as Toronto’s fourth-line center for much of the year but has been fairly low-event. He has just three assists, five penalty minutes, and a minus-three through 31 appearances. That’s a far step down from the 19 points, 28 PIMs, and minus-eight he totaled in 74 games last season, split between time with the Minnesota Wild and Maple Leafs. He’s found a groove as a gritty, hard-nosed bottom-line option – which should fit right in with the makeup of Pittsburgh’s current fourth line. Dewar will challenge Blake Lizotte for routine ice time, but could be pushed to the flanks to challenge Bokondji Imama or Noel Acciari should Pittsburgh prefer to keep Lizotte in.
Timmins has landed in a similar rut. He’s been a bottom-pair option for the Leafs, with eight points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 51 games this season. That is also a downtick in scoring form the 10 points Timmins managed in 25 games last year, and the 14 points he posted in 25 games of 2022-23. Pittsburgh has been searching for more defense depth after trading away Marcus Pettersson. Timmins could find a way into the vacant role, though he’ll first compete with Ryan Graves and newcomer Vladislav Kolyachonok for minutes.
Both Dewar and Timmins are set to enter restricted free agency this summer.