NHL trade rumors: 3 teams who should trade for Matt Dumba

2. Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs must upgrade their blueline this offseason. Specifically, they need to add at least one clear top-four option to their right side. Right now, the Leafs currently have Justin Holl, Timothy Liljegren, and Mikko Lehtonen. Lehtonen could be a top-four option, but he’s unproven in the NHL.

Dumba would make quite a bit of sense for the Leafs. His $6 million cap hit is manageable and his contract lasts three more seasons, which means it won’t interfere with them re-signing guys like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner. If healthy, Dumba would be a nice upgrade to the Leafs blueline.

But here’s the problem. The Maple Leafs don’t have much cap space. They probably can’t afford to trade for Dumba without sending some significant salary the other way. Obviously, Matthews, Marner, and Tavares aren’t going anywhere. William Nylander would make sense for someone like Aaron Ekblad, but not for someone like Dumba.

Someone like Frederik Andersen would make sense if the Wild get rid of Devan Dubnyk. Of course, that’s way easier said than done. Plus the Leafs would probably have to add a young player or high pick to make the Wild say yes. I think Minnesota would prefer to add a center in any trade for Dumba.

It would make so much sense for the Leafs to trade for Dumba. But this offseason is going to be very tricky to predict.