Who wants what the Maple Leafs are selling?

The Maple Leafs need to upgrade prior to the trade deadline and while Brad Treliving isn’t likely to drastically overhaul his roster in the next six weeks, there are noticeable areas for improvement as well some potential fat that can be cut.

The Leafs aren’t exactly in a money in/money out situation when it comes to the trade deadline, but they are close. Presently with Jacob Quillan on the roster the Leafs only have $441k of LTIR cap relief available (according to PuckPedia on Jan 23, 2025). The Leafs presently have Max Pacioretty, John Tavares, and Anthony Stolarz on their injured reserve and the resulting demotions of Fraser Minten, Matt Murray, and Jacob Quillan would increase that space. The likely activation of Jani Hakanpaa from the LTIR, something that will occur either right before or right after the Four Nations break, will cut into both the space available and require another demotion as well.

Given that the Leafs have preferred having a 23-player roster throughout the season, it seems that at best Calle Jarnkrok’s LTIR relief is the best the Leafs have to work with for cap space and even that may be partially spent.

Here are the Leafs options for selling and potential teams that could be interested.

Max Domi (13 team no trade clause)

Max Domi’s nickname should be Cybertruck because he’s expensive and comes with a ton of buyer’s remorse.

That said, Max Domi was also signed for a reason. Brad Treliving really liked what he saw from the forward last season and throughout Domi’s career plenty of other GMs have found themselves in similar situations. There are some players that are great players no matter who is coaching them and who they play with, but Max Domi and Craig Berube are certainly not gelling. That doesn’t mean that Domi is washed up or done, just maybe that he should be done in Toronto.

A lot of the negativity around Domi’s performance is linked heavily to his play at centre and if history has taught us anything, prolonged stints of Domi at centre are bad news. Max Domi having to play in defensive situations is also bad news. If the Leafs keep him, there is still hope that Toronto can get out of him what they need, but with Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann looking capable and Max Pacioretty doing a lot of the non-scoring things that people would have hoped from Domi, the $3.75M in cap space has a lot more appeal than the player at this point.

The Leafs might be done with Domi but there are potentially some teams out there that have space in their top six forward group and see the potential for a playmaker joining their team.

The team that sticks out the most when it comes to a fit for Max Domi is the team he had his most successful recent campaign with, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks have plenty of cap space to spare and have come up light when it comes to finding a playmaker for Connor Bedard. In the absence of success with Connor Bedard, Domi reuniting with Tyler Bertuzzi or his former Chicago linemates is a possibility as well and as the Hawks sit in a three way tie for second last in the league in goals for per game, this was a pretty easy connecting of the dots.

The Ducks being last in the league in goals for is certainly something that points to them as a potential landing spot as well.

Other teams like the Kings or Canucks that find themselves in a playoff race but could use some more offence might be interesting as well. The Kings have a good handle on the defensive side of the puck and might be able to risk it a bit more on someone like Domi if they think his offence can get on track while the Canucks might be looking for someone to replace J.T. Miller in the lineup.

Nick Robertson

It’s entirely possible that this year is a great learning experience for Nick Robertson and he could put it all together for the Leafs next season. It’s also entirely possible that this is what Robertson is and that is good north/south skater with a quality wrist shot and not enough else to his game that excites a coach when things aren’t going right.

The Leafs of today have never been the right fit for Robertson. A decade ago, Robertson would have received all the opportunities in the world to play in the top six and would essentially be the Leafs leading goal scorer by default would have worked great for him. Now it is hard to envision a path to the top six that makes sense and his linemates are either going to overexpose his defensive shortcomings or not utilize his offensive strengths enough. His trade request always made sense.

It’s because of his offensive abilities there is a possibility that someone is interested in him and since half the league has a goals for per game under three, there will be calls for exploring offensive upgrades. It’s just the value attached to Robertson will be somewhat underwhelming.

Cap strapped teams like the Avalanche or Capitals might see some potential in Robertson they want to explore and they might have a player in mind that they want him to play with. The Capitals have a number of larger forwards that putting a 5’9 shooter with wouldn’t be a big deal, and the Avs with a lineup filled with Casey Mittelstadt, Valeri Nichushkin, and Jonathan Drouin show a willingness to take a gamble on bargain players with upside and believe they can turn them into something.

It’s also likely that a would-be seller will want someone like Robertson included in a deal. Someone will have to play after they’ve dealt away all their rentals and having a player who could potentially score would be a bonus.

David Kampf (10 team no trade clause)

If David Kampf made half of what he is paid, there would probably be teams lining up around the block for him. He’d be a decent fourth line centre who you can trust on the penalty kill and given that you are firmly paying him as a fourth line centre there wouldn’t be a need to test him against competition he can’t handle and expect