NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Toronto Maple Leafs Dakota Joshua Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

Maple Leafs fans react to the Dakota Joshua trade

Originally posted on TheLeafsnation | By Michael Mazzei | Last updated Jul 18, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired forward Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick on Thursday.

It is a move that helps further address the Leafs’ desires to improve the overall depth of the team while making a stronger bottom-six that has long been unattainable throughout the Core Four era. While Joshua is coming off a down season that was partly caused by a diagnosis of testicular cancer that delayed the start of his season, it’s a worthy bet that a fully healthy and motivated offseason will get him back on track.

With that said, we asked you on social media what your thoughts were on the Joshua trade and here are the highlights.

Good depth 3rd liner especially if he can get back to 32-35 points 18 goals that would be huge

— Jallo (@Jallo221897) July 17, 2025

At his best, Joshua is a heavy forechecker with impressive speed for his size of 6-foot-3 and someone who can contribute at both ends of the ice. Should they be able to help him regain some of his production from the 2023-24 season and find an ideal line combination for him, he could become one-third of a strong third line.

He’s a really underrated player. Was impressive one year ago, and then had his season derailed by a cancer diagnosis. As a Canuck fan I’m annoyed that they gave him away

— JRBear96 (@jribeyre96) July 18, 2025

Joshua was certainly a useful player for the Canucks as evidenced by the fact they gave him a four-year contract last summer. The reality this time around is that they needed to shed some cap space and Joshua became the candidate for that. Their salary cap misfortunes is the Leafs’ gain as they had the space to bring him in.

It didn’t cost us much at all but if he doesn’t bounce back he’s just a way overpaid fourth liner. It’s not bad to have but we still need a true top 6 scorer

— D.J. Llewellyn (@DJ_Llewellyn) July 18, 2025

There are certainly some risks that are attached to this trade, especially because Joshua is coming off a down season in Vancouver. With his cap hit at $3.25 million for the next three seasons, it results in the Leafs having just under $3 million in cap space at the time of filing. There is still plenty of time for them to shed some salary to make room for an even better option up front.

BEEF

— The fifth Line! (@jcmac44) July 18, 2025

One thing that can’t be denied is that the addition of Joshua aligns with the vision that GM Brad Treliving has for the roster: prioritizing players with size who can be useful pieces. It certainly helps that Joshua already has familiarity with head coach Craig Berube and assistant coach Mike Van Ryn.

Come playoffs, I think it’s a good move

— Puck Talk (@fantasypucker) July 17, 2025

Joshua may only have one proper playoff run under his belt, but he showed that he has what it takes to elevate his game under the bright lights. His eight points (four goals and four assists) in 13 playoff games were good enough to be tied for fifth on the Canucks in scoring during the 2024 run, outperforming the likes of Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek.

Will he wear 81 in TO?

— Nolan Nichol (@nolan_nichol) July 17, 2025

Nothing is stopping Joshua from getting to keep his #81 with the move to Toronto, as the number is currently available and hasn’t been used in a few years. There have only been two players in Leafs history to go with this number, with them being Phil Kessel and Mac Hollowell (the latter of whom used it for six games in the 2022-23 season).

We want to hear from you: what are your thoughts on the Dakota Joshua trade?

This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: