3 players the Toronto Maple Leafs should trade away

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a great team. Make no mistake about it. Their playoff woes make people act differently but they have been one of the best teams in the NHL for the last half decade or so.

Of course, some roster issues come with winning as players become more expensive. The Leafs just don’t have a Stanley Cup to show for all of their success so it makes it look worse.

On Wednesday, the Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews agreed to a four-year extension. Those four years will see him at a 13.25 cap hit. That is a great deal for both sides.

He will be the highest-paid player in NHL history in terms of average annual value once that deal kicks in. He still has one year left on his old contract worth 11.64 million.

If the Maple Leafs are going to get back under the cap, they are going to need to make some moves. These are three players that they could, in theory, trade very soon:

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be forced to trade William Nylander away.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had some amazing years with William Nylander. He developed into a really good forward and one of the ten best wingers in the NHL.

In 2022-23, Nylander had 40 goals and 47 assists for 87 points in 82 games. Obviously, that is outstanding production on a very good team.

Nylander has one year left on his deal making just under seven million. He is clearly going to get a significant raise once the contract is up.

It is hard to see the Maple Leafs being able to afford him with Matthews, Marner, and Tavares all making ten million or more.

Relief could come to the Leafs if they decided to trade Nylander now. They have enough firepower up front to make up for the loss but it would still be hard to give up on that luxury.

They’d certainly get a lot back in return which is a reason to consider it. Obviously, the two sides don’t want to part ways but they very well might be forced to.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should look to trade Calle Jarnkrok at this point.

Calle Jarnkrok is a good player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is not someone that is a superstar by any means but he did have 20 goals and 19 assists for 39 points last season as a depth player.

He spent the first eight years of his career as a member of the Nashville Predators. Then, the Seattle Kraken drafted Jarnkrok from the Predators in the 2021 Expansion Draft.

Seattle then traded him to the Calgary Flames in the middle of their first season. Then, he ended up with the Maple Leafs as a free agent. He has had tons of good years in the NHL but nothing comes close to the year he had with Toronto last year.

Jarnkrok’s trade value might never be as high as it is right now again. The Leafs still have him on the books for three more years at 2.1 million. Obviously, trading him now wouldn’t create that much room on its own but it all adds up.

Again, keeping all of these guys would be a luxury. Unfortunately, it is a luxury that the Maple Leafs just can’t afford to have right now. They need to make a few trades and these three guys do make sense in different ways.