The Imminent Toronto Maple Leafs Trade - by Moses

      It is now imminent that the Toronto Maple Leafs need help on the blue-line.  Whilst we have top notch defencemen in Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, and Ron Hainsey, we have a need for another top two defenceman.  The Blue and White have the following assets to offer up;  William Nylander, Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown, a 2019 1st Round Draft Pick, and possibly a couple of Marlies.  We will need help come the 2nd Round of the playoffs by this writers' account.  Say we have to play Boston in the first round.  The team we have now will probably be able to get through, however, in the second round against a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins our blue-line will be exposed by the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Kris Letang among others. 

  The reality is that the Leafs are currently a playoff team with no real bite.  When we're up 2-0 the fan base is never quite sure if we can hold on to the lead.  With all the great offensive players that the Montreal Canadiens had in the seventies, it was their defence that won them Stanley Cups.  With Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, and Serge Savard on the blue-line, and Ken Dryden in net Montreal rarely gave up more than 2 goals a game. 

Trade Proposals

1.  From the Toronto Maple Leafs; William Nylander, Nikita Zaitsev, and a 1st Round Draft Pick to the Los Angeles Kings for Drew Doughty and $10 Mil U.S.D to be paid over the next 3 years to the Maple Leafs for future cap issues and to incur Doughty's $10 Mil U.S.D/year salary.

2.  From the Toronto Maple Leafs; William Nylander, Nikita Zaitsev, and a 1st Round Draft Pick to the St. Louis Blues for Alex Pietrangelo and $10 Mil U.S.D to be paid over the next 3 years to the Maple Leafs for future cap issues.  

3.  From the Toronto Maple Leafs; Connor Brown and Chris Mueller to the Vancouver Canucks for Michael Del Zotto

As a result of two deals this would be our Toronto Maple Leafs

Head Coach - Mike Babcock

Goalies

1.  Frederik Andersen
2.  Garret Sparks
3.  Michael Hutchinson

Defencemen

1.  Morgan Rielly
2.  Drew Doughty
3.  Jake Gardiner
4.  Ron Hainsey
5.  Michael Del Zotto
6.  Travis Dermott
7.  Igor Ozhiganov
8.  Calle Rosen *

Forward Lines

                LW                                           C                                            RW

1.  Andreas Johnsson                Auston Matthews                  Kasperi Kapanen

2.  Zach Hyman                            John Tavares                         Mitch Marner

3.  Patrick Marleau                      Nazem Kadri                          Tyler Ennis

4.  Trevor Moore                        Frederik Gauthier                  Jeremy Bracco *

* - currently with the Toronto Marlies