When the Toronto Maple Leafs look around the trade market for centres, they’ll see old friends, familiar foes and at least one local boy who feels as though he’s been linked to the team for multiple trade deadlines.
What they’ll also find is a slew of suitors chasing after the same relatively small pile of in-demand pivots.
As always, depth down the middle is viewed as a playoff must and there are a number of squads bound for the post-season — Winnipeg and Minnesota come to mind — that would certainly seem to have a more glaring need for help higher up the lineup at centre than the Leafs.
After all, when everyone is healthy, Toronto does have Auston Matthews and John Tavares in its first two slots.
Of course, it’s that 3C hole where it’s believed Toronto is shopping. But what do the Leafs have their eyes on? Do you opt for an overqualified guy who is slumming it on the third line, a career third-liner who slots naturally there or a clear bottom-six guy who can provide responsible minutes, but not a ton else?
The answer, as always, will come down to acquisition cost and what the Leafs can squeeze in under the cap.
With that in mind, let’s outline a range of centre options for Toronto as it moves toward the March 7 deadline in an increasingly active NHL trade market.
Big swings on centres with term
Ryan O’Reilly, Nashville Predators
Under different circumstances, this would almost feel like a done deal. O’Reilly, of course, played for the Leafs in 2023, when the team won its only playoff round of the past 20 years. He also claimed the 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues while competing for current Toronto coach Craig Berube.
But O’Reilly signed a four-year pact in Nashville after his time in Toronto and still has two full seasons after this one to go on that deal. Though he doesn’t actually have trade protection, the belief is, if — and it’s a massive if — the Preds want to deal him, he will have major insight into the process.
Should O’Reilly be willing to move, you’d have to believe a return trip to Toronto — especially with Berube at the helm — holds appeal. The Leafs would have to be willing to part with significant futures, though, to entice the Preds to part with O’Reilly. And assuming Toronto would request Nashville (or a third party) to retain a portion of O’Reilly’s $4.5-million cap hit through 2026-27, that return package would have to be even fatter.
That said, if you grabbed the 33-year-old O’Reilly now with salary retained and re-signed pending UFA John Tavares to a new, short-term deal, you could probably have both as your second- and third-line centres for the next couple seasons. And the combined cap hit may not total much more than half of what Tavares alone accounts for today at $11 million.
Scott Laughton, Philadelphia Flyers
Perhaps no player in the past year or so has been more linked to Toronto in more trade rumours that, thus far, have not come to fruition than Laughton.
And that’s saying something.
On one hand, if the Leafs desperately wanted this player, they could have paid the freight already and got the Greater Toronto Area boy in Blue and White. And, like the Preds, the Flyers — who remain firmly in the playoff hunt — can put their feet up and wait to be wooed by an offer that inspires them to deal a player they’re also beyond happy to keep.
Laughton, who can play in the middle or on the flank, just returned to the Flyers lineup after a 10-day absence on Monday and netted a goal and a helper in a win over New Jersey. He’s 30 years old and has one more season to go after this year on a deal that accounts for a $3-million cap hit.
This is as good a place as any to remind you the Leafs do not hold a 2025 first-round pick, having shipped it to Chicago two years ago in the deadline deal that returned defenceman Jake McCabe.
Expensive pending-UFA rentals
Yanni Gourde, Seattle Kraken
Gourde showed his worth as a perfect 3C on Tampa Bay Lightning squads that won the Cup in 2020 and 2021. He cashed in by inking a four-year pact with the Seattle Kraken before their first season of play in 2022. Now, that deal is almost up and Gourde’s name has been a mainstay on trade boards thanks to Seattle’s improbable playoff chances and the fact he remains an effective third-liner.
Gourde, 33, is more than a pain to play against as a defensively sound centre; he’s also got 20 goals in 83 career playoff games. Basically, loads of experience, tenacious checking and the ability to kick in a goal or two every playoff round. That’s a player who will be in high demand.
Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
It’s hard to imagine the Leafs going down this road, but Nelson is a good enough player that he must be mentioned. In fact, a number of teams are probably eyeing him as a potential 2C, which means the acquisition cost is almost surely beyond what Toronto could and would cough up.
Nelson has not scored fewer than 34 goals in any of the past three seasons, which is notable given the Islanders are not exactly an offensive dynamo. If the Isles decide to move him, the price will be high — and teams other than Toronto are better candidates to seriously contemplate paying it.
Cheap(er) pending-UFA rentals
Trent Frederic, Boston Bruins
As the Bruins continue to exist on the playoff bubble — and sport a pretty gruesome minus-20 goal-differential — Boston brass has acknowledged the club will examine the possibility of trading certain pieces ahead of the deadline.
If the B’s do sell, phones will be buzzing over Frederic. Leafs fans may recall him as the guy who scored three goals against Toronto last spring in Boston’s seven-game, first-round victory. That’s as many as each of David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand netted during the series and the 26-year-old Frederic did it while averaging under 14 minutes a night. Of course, his calling card is being a big man (six-foot-three, 220 pounds) who moves well for his size and can do some damage on the forecheck.
He won’t cost as much as Gourde, but Boston won’t be giving him away, either.
Nick Bjugstad, Utah Hockey Club
Bjugstad isn’t going to blow anybody away, but he could provide a different look to the Leafs lineup because he’s six-foot-six and comes in the desired right-shot package. The only right-shot players who’ve taken 100 draws for Toronto this year are William Nylander and Fraser Minten.
Bjugstad would come cheaper than anybody else on this list, so it’s really a question of which road the Leafs want to travel down.
