I will discuss who the Leafs need to trade, who they should trade for, who they should sign and the why.
In brief it is my assessment that Toronto needs a goalie, a kick in the pants for the defense, size upfront and perhaps most importantly leadership.
To see how Toronto's roster should look come the start of the season including Cap information please click here. Just make sure you come back here to see how and to comment on how you disagree or agree with my changes.
Leafs Trade Block:
- Tim Connolly
- Matthew Lombardi
- Colby Armstrong
- Mike Komisarek
- Jonas Gustavsson
- Carl Gunnarsson
- Dion Phaneuf
- Mikhail Grabovski
The Leafs should be able to use these assets to get some good talent and fill some organizational pit falls. The two most notable names on my list have to be Phaneuf and Grabovski and I will get to the specifics as to how these assets should be used. The other names might be a bit of a stretch to call assets excluding Gunnarsson who should be able to fetch a decent return and is perhaps not a must trade. If we can't get a return for Connolly, Lombardi, Armstrong and Komisarek then we should either assign them to the Marlies or waive them early in the season in hopes that someone else will pay them. Gustavsson is perhaps the easiest to deal with as we can simply see if anyone wants to give up a low round draft pick to talk to him early and if not he is a free agent.
Leafs Offseason Trades
Leafs - Canucks Trade
- Mikhail Grabovski
- Nikolai Kulemin
- Leafs 2013 1st round draft pick
- Rights to negotiate with Jonas Gustavsson
- Roberto Luongo
- Ryan Kesler
- Canucks 2012 1st round draft pick (Malcolm Subban)
The Why and How
Vancouver would want to do this deal because they will get rid of Luongo and his contract. This will be the sticking point for Mike Gillis and Brian Burke as Gillis will most likely think Luongo is worth more than he is but without any suitors will come to the realization that he needs to get rid of the contract so he can sign Cory Schneider to a long term contract. Apparently Luongo's existence as a Canuck has become a sticking point in contract negotiations with Schneider. Once Gillis doesn't get many offers for Luongo the deal will be more about Ryan Kesler who is kind of on the outs with the Canucks as well but still has trade value.
Other possible inclusions in the deal could be Komisarek as a contract dump.
Click here to see what the Canucks roster might look like with this trade.
Leafs - Blue Jackets Trade
- Dion Phaneuf
- Carl Gunnarsson (or substitute other prospect of equal value)
- Joe Colborne
- Rights to negotiate with Jonas Gustavsson
- Rick Nash
- Boone Jenner
The Why and How
This trade offer from the Leafs will is highly contingent on their ability to sign Ryan Suter away from the Predators, which I will touch on later. Assuming however that the Toronto is able to acquire Suter and ink him to a deal, Phaneuf will then become expendable to the Leafs even though he is Captain.
In order to gauge who Columbus is looking for I refer to the the Jeff Carter trade where they acquired Jack Johnson. This trade indicates that CBJ General Manager, Scott Howson, is looking to build from the defense. It is unlikely that Columbus will see an offer with a single higher caliber player than Phaneuf for Nash. They might see a higher quantity deal from other teams or perhaps a higher caliber player from a team that is not on Nash's trade list and in this case it could depend on how lenient Nash will be on what teams CBJ can trade him to. This is also assuming that Toronto even was and still is on Rick's trade list.
At the end of day it seems likely that Howson will take the deal on the table simply because Phaneuf is the biggest piece they could get.
The other part of this deal is simply so that the Leafs space out some of there prospects in acquiring the younger Jenner for the older Colborne or possibly Kadri. For Columbus it would afford them the opportunity to get a good prospect that can play next year.
Click here to see what the Columbus lineup might look like next year.