The Toronto Maple Leafs, as they look to get back to the NHL playoffs after a year in the wilderness, are in search of help on the blue line. A new trade pitch published Wednesday and aimed at the Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers would bring that help, but a heavy cost to the Maple Leafs’ future.
Is it worth it?
The proposed Maple Leafs trade would land Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim in the fourth season of his eight-year, $50 million contract, but at the price of top defensive prospect Ben Danford — the Leafs’ 2024 first-round draft pick — another young defender in Noah Chadwick, and 35-year-old, 17-year veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Two 2027 draft picks would also be part of the package in the trade pitch.
Constructed on Wednesday using PuckPedia‘s PuckGM trade simulator, the scenario hands Toronto a top-pair defenseman and sends Philadelphia a first-round prospect, a first-round pick and a grizzled NHL vet.
Sanheim, 30, went 17th overall to Philadelphia in 2014 out of the Calgary Hitmen, according to Team Canada’s Olympic biography. The 6-foot-4 left-shot defenseman from Elkhorn, Manitoba, has logged 670 NHL games with 66 goals, 187 assists and 253 points, including 37 points and a plus-12 rating last season, according to Philly Hockey Now. He also won gold at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and earned a spot on Canada’s 2026 Olympic roster.
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Travis Sanheim Fit on the Blue Line
Chris Tanev, 36, went on injured reserve this month with an upper-body injury, and Toronto’s defense already struggled without his minutes and reliability last season, according to The Hockey News. The Leafs would be plugging the hole with the PuckGM trade idea.
“So it’s by committee when a guy like that goes out for a time,” coach Jim Hiller said, according to Alter. In practice, that means Jake McCabe absorbs his partner’s minutes while Hiller floats a Morgan Rielly-Troy Stecher pairing.
Sanheim eats minutes. He averaged 24 minutes, 38 seconds through the first 38 games of 2025-26, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia, and has played both left and right defense.
Ekman-Larsson, 35, went sixth overall to Arizona in 2009, won the 2024 Stanley Cup with Florida and signed a four-year, $14 million deal with Toronto that July, according to TSN. The Karlskrona, Sweden, native also won Olympic silver in 2014, according to Dreger. He has 540 points in 1,148 games, including 39 in 78 last season, but no points and eight penalty minutes through seven games this season, according to PuckPedia. His $3.5 million cap hit runs through 2027-28.
Philadelphia Flyers’ Return for Travis Sanheim
Chadwick, 21, was a sixth-round pick, 185th overall, in 2023. The 6-foot-4 defenseman scored 56 points in 66 games as Lethbridge’s captain, then posted 23 points in 68 AHL games and five more in 16 playoff games as the Marlies won the Calder Cup, according to The Leafs Nation‘s Michael Mazzei.
Danford, 20, went 31st overall in 2024, captained Oshawa, moved to Brantford, won World Junior bronze with Canada and added a goal and two assists in that Calder Cup run, according to The Leafs Nation, which slots him as a third-pair defenseman today and a second-pair candidate later, and considers Danford roughly a year from regular NHL duty.
Colorado’s 2027 first-round pick arrived in the Nicolas Roy trade and converts to an unprotected 2028 first if it lands in the top 10, according to NHL.com. Toronto’s own 2027 second-round pick completes the return.
Financially, PuckGM lists $5.337 million leaving Toronto against Sanheim’s $6.25 million, a $913,000 increase for the Leafs and matching savings for Philadelphia. Sanheim’s eight-year, $50 million deal runs through 2030-31 with a full no-trade clause through 2026-27, according to PuckPedia, so he must approve any deal. A 12-team no-trade list takes over in 2027-28.
So who wins? It depends on placement in time. Toronto gets the better of the present, with Sanheim, a defenseman who plays top-pair minutes replacing a third-pair veteran without a point so far this season. Philadelphia wins the future, scooping up two prospects, two picks, cap savings and an Ekman-Larsson contract that expires three years before Sanheim’s.
Danford and Chadwick are not NHL regulars yet. Sanheim is a 24-minute defenseman now. So, who says no?
Maple Leafs Trade Pitch Lands $50 Million Travis Sanheim For Prospects, Picks