Why the Maple Leafs should consider trading Matias Maccelli

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving hasn’t made too many mistakes throughout his tenure. Trading a conditional third-round pick for forward Matias Maccelli is evidently becoming one of them.

Maccelli is only 21 games in this season, but unfortunately for him, and the Maple Leafs’ brass, it hasn’t worked out. Maccelli’s been given every opportunity throughout Toronto’s lineup, and hasn’t been able to find a home. His game screams second-line crafty winger, but his inconsistencies with valuing the puck, committing to physicality, and hitting the score sheet have become one of the many problems in Leafs land.

Maccelli has just nine points through 21 games and has mostly of late, been playing on Craig Berube’s third line alongside fellow underperforming newcomer Dakota Joshua. Berube has scratched Maccelli for just one game this season, and it was something the Leafs’ forward took personally. Maccelli did respond with a ‘scratch and score’ potting a goal and an assist against his former team from Utah. He’d then score the next game as well, but it’s been all downhill from there. One assist in seven games, a handful of head-scratching moments where it looks like Maccelli is in full panic mode on the ice, and a slew of turnovers that have put the team in a binding position.

Maccelli’s averaging a career-low 13:10 of ice-time this season, and it’s due to a lack of trust from Berube, but rightfully so. Maccelli constantly turns the puck over trying for a high-danger pass, as appose to taking the easy route and using the boards, or a much simple dump in. And, when the high-danger plays aren’t paying off, combined with a non-physical player, who hardly ever engages in the dirty areas of the ice, then to me, you’re left wondering what exactly is he offering this hockey team?

It’s worth noting the conditional third-rounder turns into a 2028 second-round pick if Maccelli hits the 51-point mark, and the Maple Leafs make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As it looks just after the quarter mark of the season, neither of those things are a strong possibility.

Admittedly, Treliving is in a tough spot here, considering he gave up a decent draft pick and gambled on infusing Maccelli’s creativeness into the lineup. So far to this point it hasn’t worked out at all, and now we wait and see how long Treliving’s willing to see one of his recent transactions fail.

There’s this growing pressure on the Leafs’ GM at the moment and it has everything to do with his recent trades. Not only has the Maccelli one not worked out as he hoped, Leafs Nation would also push to have the Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo trades included in that mix, considering Treliving gave up multiple first-round picks, and top prospect Fraser Minten. Treliving’s dug himself into a bit of a mess with this current Maple Leafs roster, and it will be interesting to see him work himself out of his own demise.

As for Maccelli, the fit never made sense to me. He’s a small, crafty winger, with a ton of offensive upside, but he doesn’t scream a ‘Berube type’ at all with his work ethic. The Leafs also knew top prospect Easton Cowan was going to be pushing for a roster spot, and there was already Nick Robertson in Toronto, and both of them are undersized wingers, but have much different work ethics compared to Maccelli’s. Two was company, three very similar forwards seems like too many.

What we do know is the fact Treliving is talking trade looking for a ‘hockey deal’. The Leafs’ GM isn’t interested in prospects or draft picks, he wants players who can make an immediate NHL impact, and the question becomes who’s on the way out from Toronto? While Maccelli’s trade value isn’t jumping off the page, if he’s package together with another player, or a mid-level prospect, perhaps Treliving can find a GM willing to take a gamble.

As of now, Maccelli stays, trade talks continue, and Treliving is left wondering why his gamble hasn’t paid off yet.