Maple Leafs Trade Pitch Gets Them $95 Million Vegas Haul

There have been endless rumors and trade proposals sending Toronto Maple Leafs superstar winger Mitch Marner away from the Canadian town.

In a new PuckGM proposed trade submitted by a PuckPedia user, the Maple Leafs find a trade partner in Vegas with the Golden Knights helping Toronto unload the forward as he is about to enter the final season of his seven-year contract. (The figures listed below note the total length and value of the contracts.)

Maple Leafs Get:

• William Karlsson (eight-year, $47.2 million)
• Ivan Barbashev (five-year, $25 million)
• Zach Whitecloud (six-year, $16.5 million)
• Nicolas Hage (three-year, $6.9 million)

Golden Knights Get:

• Nicholas Robertson
• Timothy Liljegren
• Mitchell Marner

Instead of including oft-linked Shea Theodore, this user built his proposal around Leafs’ Marner and Golden Knights’ William Karlsson.

On top of Karlsson, who signed a large eight-year, $47.2 contract with Vegas in 2019, the Golden Knights would include Ivan Barbashev in the transaction. Barbashev signed a five-year, $25 million with Vegas in June 2023.

The Maple Leafs would compensate for the inclusion of Barbashev, Whitecloud, and Hage by sending Vegas free-agent signee Timothy Liljegren and unsigned restricted free agent Nicholas Robertson, both of whom seemed (and still are) to be on the outside looking in before the free agent market opened on July 1.

Liljegren ended up signing a two-year, $6 million contract on June 30. He could still be traded, according to recent reports detailed below. Robertson, on the other hand, was extended a qualifying offer but he’s not inclined to sign a contract extension with Toronto, as acknowledged by general manager Brad Treliving on July 1.

If completed, the Maple Leafs would land four contracts worth a total of $95.5 million combining the value of the deals at the time of their signing.

Maple Leafs Could Still Trade Timothy Liljegren

Toronto signed Liljegreen to a contract extension on June 30. That, however, doesn’t mean the Leafs won’t move him during the offseason if an opportunity to do so emerges.

TSN’s Chris Johnston believes a trade cannot be ruled out even if the player just signed a new contract, as he opined while appearing on the July 1 episode of The Chris Johnston Show.

“They are still going to sign some more sort of depth-type players here in free agency. We’ll see if Timothy Liljegren maybe still get traded,” Johnston said. “I know he was signed to a two-year extension but I don’t think you can entirely rule out a trade in his circumstance yet.”

Before signing his contract extension, Liljegren was rumored to be on the move. There were reports about a potential trade being in the works throughout the NHL draft, although ultimately those didn’t materialize.

Johnston, however, added more wood to the potential Liljegren fire on July 4. He discussed once again the possibility of a trade getting eventually completed.

“They would look at moving Kampf, Jarnkrok, or Timothy Liljegren in the right deal. I should be very clear, that is not to say they are trying to get rid of them at all costs, but I think that because of the Leafs’ salary cap, they are pretty tight up against it,” Johnston said on July 4 after Liljegren’s extension was announced.

For what’s worth, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic reported on June 30 that Liljegren’s new contract doesn’t have any trade protection, keeping the rumors of a potential trade alive.

“Liljegren’s new contract has zero no-trade protection, according to the source. The Brad Treliving front office isn’t exactly enamored with Liljegren, not yet anyway,” Siegel reported.

Nick Robertson’s Future in Toronto Up In the Air

The Leafs extended a qualifying offer to Robertson on July 1 and converted the winger into a restricted free agent. He completed a three-year, $2.39 million entry-level contract on that date.

Robertson has 87 regular-season appearances since the Leafs drafted him with the No. 53 pick in the 2019 NHL draft. He’s scored 17 goals and assisted 17 more for 34 total points.

NHL insider Chris Johnston broke the news of Robertson’s trade requets on June 30.

“Sources say that RFA Nick Robertson has no plans to re-sign with the Leafs this summer and has informed the team that he would like to be traded,” Johnston reported.

Shortly after that report, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving confirmed on July 1 that there’ve been some issues with Robertson. That said, he clarified that, at least for now, Toronto is not considering trading him.

“I have certainly known that there was some frustration with Nick, but we look at Nick as an excellent player,” Treliving said. “There is a great opportunity for Nick here. We need him to be a good player for us. I am not going to get into any speculation or public back-and-forth. We will just leave it at that and continue to move forward.”

Robertson scored 14 goals and 13 assists in 56 regular-season games in 2023-24. The winger, however, failed to score a single point in six playoff outings.