The NHL trade market might soon have a distinct blue-and-white tinge to it.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ latest setback — a 5-2 loss in Seattle Thursday night — might send the club headlong into sell mode.
Toronto woke up Friday morning sitting second-last in the Eastern Conference, making it increasingly unlikely even the Buds themselves believe there’s a rally coming.
“I think you’ll see talks about Toronto’s players intensify,” Friedman said on the latest edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “I don’t know if you’ll see anything before the Olympic freeze, which is on Wednesday. But I defeintly think you’re going to hear a lot more Toronto names get out there, more than you would have expected this year. I don’t think we’re too far away from that. I think they’re going to put a lot of guys out there and see what the market is for them.”
Two role players on expiring contracts — winger Bobby McMann and centre Scott Laughton — will surely attract interest. On the back end, big, right-shot defenceman Brandon Carlo has loads of playoff experience and a contract that runs through 2026-27, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson — who won the Cup in 2024 with Florida and is having an excellent season — is inked for two more years after this one.
Of course, many Leafs fans are going to wonder about the top of the lineup and, specifically, captain Auston Matthews. A week ago, when Mitch Marner was returning to Toronto as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, Friedman wrote an extensive piece on Sportsnet.ca that outlined Marner’s often-contentious time with his hometown team. Within that story was a nugget about how Leafs management approached Matthews two years before his second contract was up to get a sense of how keen he was to remain in Toronto. Basically, the message was that unless things go off the rails, Matthews was all in.
Well, with the train wobbling these days, it’s fair to wonder — with Matthews’ third contract now set to expire in 2028 — whether the first-overall pick from 2016 is contemplating what his future holds. For his part, Friedman doesn’t think we’re there just yet.
“I don’t think that’s a question,” he said. “I think it would have to get a lot worse than this before he would ask to be traded. I don’t think that’s going anywhere right now.”
While Matthews might not be going anywhere soon, one superstar who figures to be on the move imminently is Artemi Panarin. The Russian winger is already being held out of the New York Rangers lineup while the team tries to facilitate a trade. Of course, as Friedman notes, there are hugely complicating factors in that Panarin possesses a no-move clause and, according to the insider, is bent on negotiating a contract extension with his new club to avoid potentially moving twice in the span of five months.
“He is going to try and hit a contract home run, even though he’s 34 years old,” Friedman said. “The number I was hearing — and a few teams backed me on this — was $50 million.”
Friedman acknowledged there’s a lot of information — some of it conflicting — to sort through right now. Ultimately, a third of the league is likely giving some thought to acquiring Panarin, but everybody has their own set of considerations. Friedman went around the bases, touching on numerous teams he believes are kicking tires with at least some degree of force. Colorado is interested, but not with an extension; Dallas can’t do an extension unless it pivots away from trying to extend pending-RFA Jason Robertson; the Kings are asking themselves if it truly makes sense for them to give up futures right now; Panarin would love the Panthers, but is Cats GM Bill Zito ready to move heaven and earth to make it happen? Minnesota just did the biggest NHL contract of all-time with Kirill Kaprizov and would surely love to get another whopper done with Quinn Hughes in the summer, so what’s left in the bank there?
“Some other teams think the Capitals have been aggressively pursuing this, so I’m counting them as legit,” said Friedman, noting Washington would want to get an extension done as part of a Panarin swap.
One notable party Friedman mentioned was the Kraken, who are known to be shopping young centre Shane Wright. If the Kraken — who are perpetually in need of high-end talent — are to move the fourth-overall pick from 2022, Panarin is precisely the type of player the club would like to return.
“I could see them putting Wright-plus out there for Panarin,” he said. “I just don’t know how Panarin feels [about playing in Seattle], and if that’s at all reasonable. So I would say that’s unlikely, but I have no doubt Seattle called and said that’s the kind of player we want and that’s the kind of deal we would do for Shane Wright.”
San Jose, Carolina, Anaheim, Detroit, Vegas, Utah, the Islanders and even the free-falling Flyers were also mentioned by Friedman. “If Kaprizov had gotten to the open market, I think Philly was going to make a bid for him, and I could see Philly doing this, too,” he said.
While Friedman expects a deal to get done before the Olympic roster freeze on Wednesday, ultimately, Panarin and his agent, Paul Theofanous, hold the cards. “Where does he want to go and what’s he willing to accept?” Friedman asked. “If he’s not going to get the max package he wants, what’s he willing to take?”
While Panarin rumours have heated up tremendously in the past week or so, it almost feels as though the noise around the Nashville Predators has subsided. Early in the year, it felt inevitable the Preds would be major sellers, but with Nashville lingering around the Western Conference playoff picture, one wonders if the team could switch tacks.
As it happens, though, GM Barry Trotz is still actively fielding calls. Appearing on the Nashville-based radio station 102.5 The Game, Trotz was asked specifically if a trade involving Ryan O’Reilly — a centre several playoff-bound teams would drool over — could be ruled out given the team’s performance.
“No, I think everything has to be on the table,” he told co-host Adam Vingan. “As I said, I have not had any conversations with Ryan on…his situation. I have to listen to all offers. If there’s an offer that blows my mind, then I have to listen.”
Sounds like, for the right price, the 2019 Conn Smythe winner could be had.
