NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs To Start Trading Players?
An uneven start, injuries to key names and a five game skid have pushed trade talk back to the front burner, and the big question around the league is starting to become: are the Leafs actually willing to start trading players, or is this just noise.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has made it clear that management prefers “hockey trades” right now, roster for roster instead of burning more futures, but that only matters if Brad Treliving is truly ready to move some real pieces.
Maple Leafs trade rumors: is Toronto finally ready to deal?
According to Friedman, the inner circle is very small. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies are viewed as the core that is not being touched, and top prospect Easton Cowan is also someone the front office would rather not throw into another futures package after last year’s big swings.
Add in the newer Craig Berube type players, like Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz, and you start to see a clear line between who the Leafs want to build around and who might quietly be getting shopped.
Matthew Knies stresses importance of Maple Leafs closing out games to end losing streak
— TheLeafsNation (@TLNdc) November 17, 2025
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That brings the conversation to veteran pieces like Morgan Rielly. On paper, he fits the profile of a big name who could bring back a different look, especially in a pure hockey trade.
Rielly controls his future with a full no movement clause, but ideas like a swap with the Pittsburgh Penguins for Erik Karlsson or a deal with the New Jersey Devils for Dougie Hamilton get tossed around because they would still send him to a playoff level situation.
The question is not just whether Rielly would waive, but whether the other side actually wants to move their own big ticket defender for Toronto’s minute muncher.
Who could the Maple Leafs actually move if the calls start coming?
If the Maple Leafs are truly willing to start trading players, the most realistic action probably comes in the middle of the lineup.
Max Domi has a 13 team no trade list, yet that still leaves more than half the league as potential landing spots. Brandon Carlo, acquired from the Boston Bruins in a big March deal, also has an eight team list, which again leaves plenty of room to work if Treliving decides a reset on the back end is needed.
Both veterans have struggled to consistently tilt the ice, which makes them logical names to dangle in a roster for roster swap rather than as pure rentals.
Craig Berube says Leafs captain Auston Matthews has not been on the ice since suffering a lower-body injury last Tuesday in Boston @TSN_Sports
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 17, 2025
Beyond that tier, Toronto has the usual group of complementary forwards who can be used to tweak chemistry.
Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson, Bobby McMann and Dakota Joshua all fall into that bucket. Robertson’s recent hot streak makes him a classic sell high candidate if the organization has quietly decided he will never have a permanent top six home here.
Jarnkrok, McMann and Joshua are more modest chips, bottom six guys who probably do not bring back splashy returns, but could be included to balance money or give another club some depth.
The reality is that everyone around the Maple Leafs seems to agree on one thing. The status quo is not working, and Toronto cannot simply wait three more months and hope the room magically fixes itself.
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