For years, we speculated about the Toronto Maple Leafs trying to add a player ahead of the trade deadline who had some size and a little scoring touch.
Now we’re wondering if they’ll trade one away.
Bobby McMann has 19 goals this season, one shy of the career-best 20 he deposited last year in what was basically his first full NHL campaign. Two of those tallies this season came in the final pair of games Toronto played ahead of the Olympic break, as the Leafs entered the hiatus on a three-game winning streak that has muddied the waters in terms of their deadline status.
Clarity will come quickly, though, if Toronto stumbles in its first two games — back-to-backs in Florida versus the Lightning and Panthers — coming out of the gate. And, if the Buds do assume a sell posture, few players are more certain to move than the six-foot-two McMann.
The late-blooming NHLer — McMann turns 30 in June — is headed toward unrestricted free agency and could set himself up for life financially. For now, though, McMann’s annual cap hit is just $1.35 million. Considering that the Leafs could retain up to 50 per cent of that figure, basically any team that’s interested in McMann can make the numbers work.
And, to be sure, squads are interested.
So, with play resuming in the NHL on Wednesday just nine days ahead of the March 6 deadline, we wanted to identify some potential suitors for McMann’s services.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are always going for it and are always up against it in terms of the salary cap. Edmonton signed Andrew Mangiapane in the summer to provide grit and scoring depth on the wing, and it just hasn’t worked out. Maybe McMann, an Alberta native, could fill the role the Oilers initially envisioned for Mangiapane.
The Oilers don’t have a 2026 first-round pick to offer, but it’s unclear whether or not that’s a reasonable asking price on behalf of the Leafs, anyway. For a sense of what McMann’s value could be, have a look at what Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos had to say in his latest trade board.
“What will the Leafs get back for McMann? It’s debatable what his price tag is. A lot of people have talked about Toronto getting a first-rounder back, but one Western Conference team told me they just don’t view him as a legitimate top-six guy. He can play in the top six, but some teams just don’t see him as a surefire player in that position. Players who are definite top-six upgrades pull first-rounders in trades, but usually not a winger who only has good stretches there. But all it takes is for one team to offer that up, so McMann’s real value is debatable.”
Utah Mammoth
Get ready to hear about the Mammoth being in on numerous players as the deadline looms. The Mammoth are 11-3-1 in their past 15 outings, giving them a real shot at a playoff berth in Year 2 in Salt Lake City. The only teams in the league with a better goal-differential at five-on-five than Utah’s plus-25 are Tampa Bay (plus-37) and Colorado (plus-70).
What makes Utah really interesting in any trade scenario, though, is the fact the club has five second-round picks in the next two drafts. San Jose sent two seconds to Vancouver for a player who’s somewhat comparable to McMann — and who is also a pending UFA — in Kiefer Sherwood. Could the Mammoth shoot the Leafs second-rounders in consecutive years and call it a day?
McMann would bring a little more size to a forward group that doesn’t have much heft to it just now.
New York Islanders
We used the Sharks as a comparable for the Mammoth in terms of having extra picks to deal, but part of the rationale for San Jose stepping up and grabbing Sherwood from Vancouver was to reward a team that’s overachieved.
Well, that’s certainly the case on Long Island, too.
The Sharks, led by 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, are in the Western Conference playoff chase when we all thought they’d be rebuilding. The Isles, led by 2025 first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, are holding down an Eastern Conference playoff spot when many of us assumed this would be a reset season under first-year GM Mathieu Darche.
As always, the Isles struggle to score — they rank 24th in goals per game, with 2.84 — and McMann could help with that. Darche has already gone out and added veteran playoff savvy in the form of Ondrej Palat, but he doesn’t bring much offence at this point.
Why not try to give the group a shot in the arm one year after New York snagged an extra 2026 first-rounder from Colorado for Brock Nelson?
Seattle Kraken
Six days before Christmas, the Kraken shipped Mason Marchment — who’d been with the squad less than half a season — to the Columbus Blue Jackets to recoup some of the cost the Kraken had paid to get Marchment from Dallas in the first place.
Apparently, it was a mutually beneficial transaction because Marchment has nine goals in 14 games with the Jackets and Seattle — which was two games under .500 on the day of the swap — is 15-6-3 since then and has the second-best points percentage in a Pacific Division.
Poke holes in the Kraken all you want; making the playoffs for the second time in franchise history — and maybe even opening on home ice — is very much in play. Seattle doesn’t score enough (23rd in the NHL, just ahead of the Isles with 2.88 goals per game) and McMann could help with that, while bringing back some of the size that left when Marchment was shipped out.
Speaking of Marchment, Seattle has three second-round picks in 2027, including the one it got from Columbus in that deal.
Detroit Red Wings
The Wings are in prime position to end a 10-year playoff drought and, with all kinds of cap space, could easily absorb all of McMann’s salary. In keeping with a common theme here, Detroit could use a few more goals — it’s 20th in the NHL with 2.97 goals per game — and has bumped up against McMann frequently the past couple years as an Atlantic Division foe.
How much do the Wings like what they see?
Los Angeles Kings
In for a penny, in for a pound?
The Kings made a huge play for Artemi Panarin ahead of the Olympic hiatus, then lost gunner Kevin Fiala to an injury at the Winter Games. L.A. — wait for it — needs more goals, and given the depth of that need (only Calgary and New Jersey have fewer goals per game than the Kings’ 2.54), maybe the club doubles down and tries to snag McMann.
