Maple Leafs Linked to Reunion with Flames Center to Shift Team’s DNA

“There’s some DNA that has to change on our team,” Treliving said. “If you keep getting the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change.”

NHL analyst Jonas Siegel of The Athletic suggested a possible target to bolster the Leafs' center rotation.

Siegel discussed the idea of trading for Calgary Flames forward Nazem Kadri. Kadri, 34, scored 35 goals and registered 67 points in 82 games this season, averaging over 19 minutes per game.

"A reunion certainly has merit for the Leafs," Siegel wrote. "For one thing, Kadri is still an effective player. He’s also been a much stronger playoff performer than Tavares."

Siegel also noted Kadri’s previous playoff success and his ties to the franchise as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2009 NHL draft made by the Leafs as potential points of interest in this scenario.

“The argument would be in part about personality,” Siegel wrote. “Kadri is Tavares’ opposite, feistier in a way that would move the ‘DNA’ of the team in a different direction.”

The analyst, however, acknowledged the hurdles in a potential trade. Those include Kadri’s $7 million cap hit through 2027 and possible tension between Treliving and Flames ownership as the current Leafs GM left Calgary before moving to Toronto.