Trade Pitch Has Maple Leafs Acquiring $29 Million Forward in Appealing Deal

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in their Stanley Cup window and one trade pitch has them acquiring a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades. One user proposed a deal that would see the Maple Leafs acquire Blake Coleman from the Calgary Flames.

Maple Leafs acquire:

• Blake Coleman
• 2026 third-round pick (Vancouver’s)

Flames acquire:

• Timothy Liljegren
• Nick Robertson
• 2027 second-round pick

The proposed deal does make sense as Toronto gets a bonafide NHL player who has plenty of Stanley Cup experience for two players who could be on the trade block. But, both are young which helps fit the Flames rebuild.

Coleman is in the fourth year of his six-year $29.4 million deal. The veteran forward could be Toronto’s third-line center and add some depth scoring as well as being able to shut down the opposing team’s top lines. Coleman was a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning roster that won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.  Last season with Calgary, Coleman recorded 30 goals and 24 assists for 54 points in 78 games.

In return, Toronto would part ways with 2017 first-round pick Liljegren. The Swede defenseman signed a two-year $6 million extension this offseason but he fell on the depth chart and was a healthy scratch to begin the season.

Robertson, meanwhile, requested a trade this offseason but ended up inking a one-year $875,000 extension. The 2019 second-round pick has skated in 89 games recording 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points.

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Maple Leafs Looking to Trade Liljegren

Liljegren was expected to be a key part of the Maple Leafs blue line but he has struggled to stay in the lineup.

After opening the season as Toronto’s eighth defenseman and being a health scratch, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Maple Leafs are looking to move Liljegren.

“Sounds like Toronto is working to find a landing spot for Timothy Liljegren. He’s down the depth chart, not a situation anyone is happy with,” Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts article.

Liljegren was a healthy scratch in the Maple Leafs’ first two regular season games of the 2024-25 NHL season. Although he is a former first-round pick and signed an extension this offseason, new head coach Craig Berube wasn’t pleased with Liljegren’s play during training camp.

“Lily’s gotta do things quicker. He’s got to be a little bit heavier in his battles, moving pucks quicker and simplify his game,” Berube said. “He’s obviously battling. He wants to be a guy in the lineup every night, and that’s great. But sometimes you put too much on your plate. Simplify the game a little bit more. And do your job as a defenceman killing plays and being heavy.”

Liljegren has skated in 196 games recording 14 goals and 51 assists for 65 points.

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Flames Coach Not Worrying About Outside Expectations

Calgary coach Ryan Huska is entering his second season as the Flames coach.

Entering the 2024-25 NHL season, Calgary is expected to be one of the worst teams in the NHL, but Huska says he and the team don’t care about the outside noise.

“To me, that’s outside noise, and I’m gonna try to keep all that outside noise away. First of all, it’s nothing that we can control. You can’t control what someone thinks of you or what they say about you. So why waste your time and energy on it? I go back to the standard again,” Huska said to Sportsnet.

“What matters is what guys expect of each other inside the dressing room. This is what we’re going to decide as a group. And you can be competitive, and you can work. That’s fully within your control,” Huska added.

The Flames opened its 2024-25 NHL season with a 6-5 OT win over the Vancouver Canucks.

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