Pivoting to the point: Puck moving defencemen gaining steam as Maple Leafs’ trade targets

In some ways it seems like 2025 was the wrong summer to give up on an elite offensive talent. Options seem to be limited when it comes to finding a player to plug into the Toronto Maple Leafs top nine forward group and while the intent was never to try to fully replace Mitch Marner, consistent offensive producers don’t seem to be in abundance either and most talent available would be at around the Max Domi level of production, which the Leafs don’t need more of up front.

In contrast, it seems like puck moving defencemen might be available. There was some discussion about whether the Leafs are in on Dougie Hamilton, and it seems like the annual Erik Karlsson to the Maple Leafs rumours are in full swing as well, this after already adding a potential diamond in the rough puck mover in Henry Thrun for Ryan Reaves.

The Leafs need for generating offence from the blueline was noted throughout last season. Toronto dropped off significantly in defensive point production, finishing at the bottom of the league in that regard. A lot of that was driven by the decline in Morgan Rielly’s production, which seemed to stem from a number of factors, including struggling in Craig Berube’s system to a reduction in powerplay time to the harsh reality that you slow down as you get older and a lot of Rielly’s success stemmed from speed. Being able to initiate more offence from the backend and have defencemen either carry the puck out of the defensive zone more frequently or be trusted with not only a safe first pass but one that generates a scoring chance would be beneficial and would mirror what worked for Berube in St. Louis where every pairing seemed to have a Pietrangelo, Faulk, Dunn, Parayko, or Krug option.

While writing off Rielly prematurely might be a mistake as his $7.5M AAV contract is more manageable than some of the rumoured alternatives, the Leafs also have the opportunity to look at options that include heavier point shots and a preference towards a right shot in that role through the process. That’s not to say that Rielly would be departing simply because the Leafs are adding in this role, but if Toronto were to look at outside options, a diminished role for Rielly would be a likely outcome until he can play his way back into a trusted status with the Leafs coach.

The interesting thing with both the Hamilton and Karlsson rumours is that they could present desirable landing spots for Morgan Rielly. Sheldon Keefe and Kyle Dubas both have more familiarity with Morgan Rielly than any other Hockey Operations people in the NHL and know how to deploy him successfully and what his limitations are. Dubas, in particular, has often shown a tendency to reunite with players he knows, and could see Rielly as his left side puck moving option while Kris Letang fills that role on the right side.

For what it is worth, Hamilton’s numbers over the past few years are nearly identical to Morgan Rielly’s and Rielly wasn’t far off of Karlsson’s production in the past couple of seasons either. Rielly is also the youngest of the three defencemen and has the lowest cap hit of the three. That’s not to say that he’s the best of the three, just that age could start leveling that playing field even further. Of course, if this is in addition to Rielly, Hamilton’s 40 points or Karlsson’s 53 points are better or at least level with most of the available forwards in free agency produced last season. Adding on the backend at the expense of a spot for someone like Simon Benoit or Brandon Carlo might be reasonable.

Beyond Rielly, the Leafs have other assets that could draw the attention of the Devils and Penguins and while David Kampf isn’t going to factor in from a value standpoint in the trade, it’s possible that both organizations would be interested in him as well and arguably the Penguins would have significant interest in some of the Leafs’ prospects as well. The Devils are a bit more of an unknown when it comes to potential returns and with Luke Hughes playing a significant and soon to be expensive top pairing puck mover role, it isn’t likely that Rielly is on their wishlist, but someone like Simon Benoit could again be a piece that garners some interest given his brief success with Keefe.

Another player I can’t help but wonder about the Penguins being interested in is Joseph Woll, and trying to make a Tristan Jarry for Woll swap part of the deal.

Beyond playing matchmaker, the names that seem to be out in the trade market the most for the Maple Leafs are Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson, David Kampf, Morgan Rielly, and Brandon Carlo. Robertson isn’t one that seems like a love connection with the Devils, given that Robertson’s trade requests were largely driven by Sheldon Keefe keeping him out of the lineup, and while it’s not to say they wouldn’t be interested, the Dubas era Leafs match game doesn’t work with Brandon Carlo.

Any deal the Leafs make seems to rely heavily on their trade partner wanting to create cap flexibility either now or in the future. The Devils have less than S7M of space and Luke Hughes remains unsigned. Kyle Dubas, on the other hand, has some space but could want to move an expensive signing in Karlsson that hasn’t met their needs.

The age factor is interesting as well. If alarms are being sounded over Rielly slowing down and there is a general concern over the age of the Leafs blueline to begin with, are 32 or 35 year old puck movers the best course of action for the Maple Leafs? The answer is probably no, but given that neither Hamilton or Karlsson requires more than a three year commitment, there are worse things Brad Treliving could do, as long as he isn’t giving up assets like either player is still in their prime.