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With the long-time NHL favorite website CapFriendly offline and PuckPedia taking over and debuting their PuckGM tool, fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs are flooding the site proposing trades to retool the Canadian franchise’s roster.
One user submitted a roster retool ranking at the top of the “Most Thought About” and “Most Liked” in the platform. That speaks highly of the potential agreement between franchise fans if it pulled those transactions off.
Among the four trades proposed in the submission (Toronto would also land New York Rangers captian-on-the-move Jacob Trouba and Nashville Predators available-goaltender Yaroslav Askarov), one transaction calls for the most attention.
Toronto Maple Leafs get:
– Nikolaj Ehlers
– Rutger McGroarty
– 2025 1st-Round pick
Winnipeg Jets get:
This simple, two-team trade would see Toronto land two of the most coveted players available for trade deep into the offseason as well as a 1st-round draft pick in the upcoming NHL draft.
The Maple Leafs would “only” send Marner, 29, to Winnipeg in exchange for that two-player, high-value pick haul.
Ehlers, 28, is entering the final season of a seven-year, $42 million contract. He scored 61 points in 82 regular-season games during the 2023-24 campaign. Conversely, McGroarty has not signed his NHL entry-level deal yet.
Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers & Rutger McGroarty on the Move
The Jets are about to experience a big roster turnover if recent reports become a reality ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported on June 5, per “a well-placed source close to the Jets,” that franchise forward Nikolaj Ehlers “is not interested” in signing a contract extension.
“According to a well-placed source close to the Jets, Ehlers is not interested in signing a contract extension with the club and that is primarily why Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is exploring his options via the trade market,” Pagnotta wrote.
Following that initial report, the same outlet listed Ehlers as the third-best available-for-trade player in the summer. “The Jets are listening and willing to make a move if the right offer presents itself,” the blurb on Ehlers says.
Moreover, and ranked just two spots behind Ehlers as the No. 5 player in the same list, unsigned rookie Rutger McGroarty appears on the Summer Trade Watch ranks.
“McGroarty has voiced his discontent with the Jets, as he wants to make the jump to the NHL next season and Winnipeg has hesitated to this point. As a result, the Jets are trying to trade him,” the report reads.
The Jets drafted McGroarty with the No. 14 pick in the 2022 NHL draft but have not been able to sign the youngster.
According to reports from Murat Ates of the Athletic and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Jets will entertain trade offers for their former No. 14 pick during the offseason.
“The Winnipeg Jets’ 2022 first-round pick, Rutger McGroarty, is likely to be traded,” Ates wrote on June 22.
“The one thing I can tell you is that I have heard (McGroarty’s) name has come up in trade discussions,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast on June 22.
Mitch Marner’s Murky Situation With Maple Leafs
We don’t know (and won’t believe) if a Marner trade will happen until it happens. However, such a transaction seems inevitable judging by the latest reports.
According to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, in a report published on July 12, we might have actually entered the biggest window for such a transaction to take place as we’re “heading into that territory.”
“The word coming out of the NHL draft at the end of June in Las Vegas was that if—a big if—Mitch Marner was going to be traded, it would take some time to consummate and probably wouldn’t happen for a couple of weeks,” Koshan wrote. “We’re heading into that territory on the calendar now, but there has been nothing to lead anyone to believe that a Marner trade actually will happen.”
Marner scored 26 goals and 59 assists in only 69 regular-season games in the 2023-24 season. More pressingly, he is entering the final season of his six-year, $65.4 million contract.
Flipping Marner for Ehlers and McGroarty (and a 2025 1st-round pick) wouldn’t bring defensive reinforcements to Toronto. That said, the trade would help the Leafs replenish their forward corps with a younger couple of players (Ehlers is only one year older than Marner) on cheaper deals and landing a valuable pick.
Alternatively, if the Maple Leafs want to trade Marner for a defenseman, they could do so for a Vegas Golden Knights $36.4 million blueliner entering the final season under contract.
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