Major Breaking: Maple Leafs Blockbuster Trade Proposal Swaps Superstar With Rangers
With the free agent market almost empty two weeks into July, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers are in a similar situation, trying to address the final needs in their rosters for the 2024-25 season.
The Rangers are searching for a top-line right winger to pair with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. On the other hand, the Maple Leafs are lacking depth in their defense corps despite having a surplus of forwards.
Interestingly, both teams might consider trading a player that fits the other’s needs: Mitch Marner, a right winger from the Maple Leafs, and Jacob Trouba, a right defenseman from the Rangers.
A trade proposal from Heavy Sports suggests that New York could get the top-line forward they need, while Toronto would gain a defenseman who could fit well on their second pair.
Rangers get:
– Mitch Marner
Maple Leafs get:
– Jacob Trouba
For this trade to happen, however, both players would need to agree to the transaction. Marner has a full no-move clause in his contract, while Trouba has a 15-team no-trade list, and Toronto would need to be outside of it.
That said, both teams and players are a good match in terms of salary and cap space for a trade. According to PuckPedia, a one-for-one trade would work for both franchises.
The Leafs would end up with $3.8 million in cap space, and the Rangers would absorb the difference in the players’ salaries. New York currently has $5.1 million in cap space, more than enough to cover Marner’s cap-hit difference.
Rangers Looking to Move On From Jacob Trouba
The Rangers asked Jacob Trouba for his 15-team no-trade list ahead of free agency, as reported by Arthur Staple of The Athletic on June 27.
During draft weekend, the Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings had a trade “in the works,” according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post on June 29. However, Emily Kaplan of ESPN revealed on July 9 that Trouba blocked a trade to Detroit by including the Red Wings in his 15-team no-trade list.
“There was a deal in place with the Red Wings, I am told, and Jacob used the power he earned in his contract to block it, and that’s within his right,” Kaplan said while appearing on TSN’s Jain Onrait show.
In the 2024 regular season, Trouba scored 3 goals and 19 assists for 22 points in 69 games. He added 1 goal and 6 assists in 16 postseason contests. Trouba has two years left on his seven-year, $56 million contract.
Arthur Staple and Peter Baugh listed the Maple Leafs as one of the top trade fits for Trouba on June 27 in a potential deal with the Rangers. “Big, right-shot defensemen like Trouba always entice teams. The Maple Leafs are going to be tight against the salary cap, but perhaps they’d be interested,” they wrote. “They have a need on the right side.”
For a trade to Toronto to happen, Trouba would need to not include the Maple Leafs in his no-trade list. Staple and Baugh mentioned that “all seven north-of-the-border clubs could be on his no-trade list.”
Mitch Marner’s Days With Maple Leafs Could Be Numbered
There has been a lot of speculation and talk about Mitch Marner’s situation in Toronto and what the Maple Leafs will do next. Marner is entering the final season of his six-year, $65.4 million contract with the franchise.
According to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, in a report published on July 12, a Marner trade could happen by the second week of July.
Some mid-July ponderings on the Maple Leafs https://t.co/EaTOR8ecpo via @koshtorontosun #Leafs #MapleLeafs #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/d8tnXI9bCW
— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) July 12, 2024
“The word coming out of the NHL draft at the end of June in Las Vegas was that if—a big if—Mitch Marner was going to be traded, it would take some time to consummate and probably wouldn’t happen for a couple of weeks,” Koshan wrote. “We’re heading into that territory on the calendar now.”
Marner, on the other hand, has made clear he wants to sign an extension to stay in Toronto for the long term. He expressed this to media members during the end-of-season availability on May 6.
“That’d be a goal. I’ve expressed my love for this place, this city. Obviously, I’ve grown up here. We’ll start thinking about that now and trying to figure something out… It means the world to me,” Marner said.
Leafs general manager Brad Treliving spoke to reporters at the NHL combine on June 3 and warned fans and reporters about the speculation surrounding Marner, as told by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
“The thing I would say is, be very, very careful of what you read out there,” Treliving said on June 3, via LeBrun, when asked about Marner’s ongoing speculation. “Mitch is a hell of a player. We’re not going to comment on any players. We’re not going to do play-by-play on it,” Treliving said. “We’ve got to look at every possible way for our team to be better.”