Trade Pitch Has Maple Leafs Acquiring Star $52 Million Defenseman in Blockbuster

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in their Stanley Cup window and one trade pitch helps bolster their lineup even more.

The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades. One user proposed a deal that would see the Maple Leafs acquire Cam Fowler from the Anaheim Ducks.

Maple Leafs acquire:

• Cam Fowler ($3.3 million retained)
• Brett Leason
• 2026 second-round pick
• 2025 fifth-round pick (Edmonton’s)

Ducks acquire:

• Nick Robertson
• Timothy Liljegren
• 2026 first-round pick
• 2026 third-round pick

The proposed deal would be a blockbuster and one that does make sense for both teams. Toronto gets two impact NHL players while Anaheim gets younger and a first-round pick to help with their rebuild.

The biggest name in the deal is Fowler who could be a first or second-pairing defenseman for the Maple Leafs. Fowler is entering the seventh year of his eight-year $52 million deal. The 32-year-old recorded 5 goals and 34 assists for 39 points in 81 games last season. Fowler has spent his entire 14-year NHL career with the Ducks skating in 974 games recording 96 goals and 357 assists for 453 points.

Leason, meanwhile, is 25 and could be a middle-six forward for the Maple Leafs who need more depth scoring. Last season with the Ducks, Leason skated in 68 games recording 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points.

Anaheim, meanwhile, would acquire Robertson and Liljegren who are both young and help fit the Ducks rebuild. Liljegren was selected in the first round of the 2017 NHL draft and has skated in 196 games recording 14 goals and 51 assists for 65 points. He would help fill the void of Fowler on the Ducks blueline.

Robertson, meanwhile, is an RFA and has requested a trade from the Maple Leafs. The former second-round pick has struggled to stay in the lineup and be a consistent player in Toronto. He has skated in 87 games recording 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points.

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Ducks Exploring Trade Options for Fowler

Fowler is one of the leaders for the Ducks and the face of the franchise. He was been with the team since he was selected 12th overall in the 2010 NHL draft.

However, heading into his age 32 season, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman spoke on his 32 Thoughts podcast on September 6 and revealed Fowler’s name has come up in trade talks.

“(Fowler’s) a little bit older. They’ve got a lot of good young players, and eventually what you’ve got to start doing is you’ve got to say, You know what, Cam, we have to start taking some of your ice time so that these other players learn what it’s like to play in the important situations… Fowler knows that when they’re good and they’re really ready to contend, it’s going to be their team and not his team,” Friedman said.

Given Fowler is owed $6.5 million per season, Anaheim will likely have to retain money on his deal, which is what happened in the trade pitch.

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Maple Leafs GM Eyes More Moves

Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is expecting to make some more moves ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season.

Toronto is looking to get over the hump after being eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Boston Bruins, which is why Treliving says he’s always looking to improve the roster.

“To me, we’ve still got five weeks or so till camp. And, you know, we’re not set yet. We continue to look at ways to make our team better,” Treliving said on OverDrive on TSN 1050. “I said at the end of the year we’re going to look at everything.

“Sometimes people fall in love with ‘ ‘let’s make a big change just to make a big change’. At the end of the day, you can go out and make big changes,” Treliving added. “If they’re not making your team better, to me it doesn’t make any sense to just make a change just to stand up and say ‘look at it, we made this big change.'”

Toronto will open its 2024-25 NHL season on the road on October 9 against the Montreal Canadiens.

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