The foreign trade hour of the 2023 Toronto Maple Leafs season enters our fourth stop. After initial stops to screen trade candidates from the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, and Philadelphia Flyers, let’s head back west and land on top of a mile-high mountain. The Colorado Avalanche will be an interesting team to watch this summer and they’ll look to reload up front after that. Captain Gabriel Landeskoog He had surgery and will likely be out for the entire season.
Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treleving knows the Avalanche well from his days in the Western Conference. If the off-season 2023 deal between Treliving and Avs GM Chris MacFarland goes down, Toronto should try to get one of the following players:
Devon Toes
Yes, Toews isn’t being bought and an avalanche would have to be blown up for a deal to be made, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The 29-year-old has one season remaining on his contract and is someone the Maple Leafs would like to lock up for the long term.
Elliott Friedman recently mentioned that she has her eye on William Nylander ahead of July 1, and if he is indeed playing, Toews is the type of defender he should target in a trade. He plays in all positions, he’s physical, he skates really well and instantly catapults into the top four of the Maple Leafs.
Toews has no commercial protection and may be transferred at will. He finished last season with 50 points in 80 games and added nine more points in seven Stanley Cup games. He also led the Avs by being +39 on the year and landing 93 hits while blocking 138 shots. When it comes to completing players, Toews is in the league.
With Colorado going to create a giant hole in their back end by moving Toews, adding TJ Brodie to this trade could be the cure. Nylander and Brodie could bring in a nice return and if Treliving really does shop around too, Toews is the kind of player who should be on your radar.
Arturi Likonne
While the Maple Leafs will add Matthew Knies to the top six on a permanent basis, they need more sandpaper and edge as they will likely lose Michael Bunting in free agency. Lehkonen of the Avalanche would be an ideal target and complement to the kit.
The Finnish winger is signed by 2026-27 season at a reasonable $4.5 million Annual average value and like Nylander, he started some trade protection on July 1st. As Friedman stated if Nylander contract talks don’t go well in the next seven days Treliving should consider a transfer and the Colorado winger would be great.
Lehkonen loves to hit and crash and has found his offensive game with Avs. He finished last season with 21 goals and 51 points in 64 games and also scored six points in seven Stanley Cup games.
Treliving is looking to increase the team’s speed on the Maple Leafs and add some toughness. This does not mean that everyone he signs or trades with is going to drop the gauntlet on opening night, it just means that he is looking for players who are difficult to play against. They fight, finish checks, don’t take shifts and aren’t shy about calling. Nylander had a great season with the Leafs in 2022-23, but he’s prone to taking shifts and getting out of touch. This is probably something weighing on Treliving’s mind at the moment.
Lehkonen has been a gem for the Avalanche, so it must be a show MacFarland can’t refuse to consider pulling the trigger here.
Samuel Gerrard
Gerrard is a player who has been linked as a summer trade candidate before Hockey player Frank Serravalle. He’s an attractive gritty player who signed for $5 million a season over the next four years and currently has no commercial protection.
Gerrard is a little undersized at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, so he’s not necessarily the typical Treliving type of target. Last season, he scored 37 points in 76 games and could one day become a 50-point contributor.
Of the Avalanche’s three targets, Girard isn’t necessarily a perfect fit for the Maple Leafs, but he may be the only one of the three available. With Bowen Byram in line for a contract extension and Colorado desperate for six more forwards, it makes sense for the Avs to move Girard this offseason.
The Maple Leafs will be active in the trade market in the next few weeks as Treliving looks to put his stamp on next season’s roster. The Avalanche feature a trio of players who want to get their hands on beautiful blue and white colours, with Toews and Lehkonen being absolutely perfect targets. The problem is availability and unless Treliving wants to overpay, he may need to work his way off the top of the mountain and into another franchise.