Insider Speculates on Wild Blockbuster Proposal for Maple Leafs' No. 1 Pick

Potential 1st overall NHL Draft pick Gavin McKenna

Only once in the last 20 years has a Top 5 pick in the NHL Draft been traded. Could the Toronto Maple Leafs be the second team to do that since 2005?

Although it's still unlikely, there has been some chatter that the Leafs are indeed not hanging up the phone when teams call to ask about the availability of the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

The most likely selection at the top spot will be Gavin McKenna. He's an elite winger who could, in essence, replace the departed Mitch Marner in terms of a top-six forward in talent and skill. Not the same kind of player exactly, but extremely skilled.

But if the Maple Leafs are hoping to get right back into the playoff mix and be a serious team in 2026-27, don't they need more immediate help than the 18-year-old McKenna, as great as he is?

To that end, insider Darren Dreger speculated on a wild blockbuster proposal Toronto could consider with the St. Louis Blues. Speaking on the Barn Burner podcast, Dreger suggested that with only two years remaining on Auston Matthews' contract (and realistically, only one year, as they will not want to go into the 2027-28 season with the captain being a pending UFA), they have much more urgency to improve significantly—NOW:

Ok, just play with me here: If we're talking about first overall, is there a way of packaging that first pick overall and maybe you end up with Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko as part of the return coming back... And hey, why don't we throw (Jordan) Binnington into the equation and Toronto throws one of their goalies in...

So let's sum up the main pieces of this hypothetical deal in an easy-to-read format:

St. Louis Blues receive:

No. 1 overall pick, 2026 NHL Draft
One of Woll/Stolarz/Hildeby/Akhtyamov

Toronto Maple Leafs receive:

Robert Thomas, C, 27
Colton Parayko, RD, 33
Jordan Binnington, G, 33

Would Leafs trade No. 1 pick in package to Blues for Thomas, Parayko & Binnington?

So in this pie-in-the-sky scenario, the Leafs would get themselves a first-line center (unless Matthews is still around, then Thomas is a 2C), signed for another five years at a reasonable $8.125M cap hit. Thomas is still young, as he turns 27 in July (not Gavin McKenna young, but young).

They would also get a proven, 6'6" physical, two-way defenseman who blocks shots with the best of them. Parayko has another four years to run at a $6.5M AAV. If the goal is making the blueline younger, however, this would not be the answer.

And Binnington is a big-game goalie who has a Stanley Cup and a 4 Nations title to his credit.

To be clear, this would obviously be a sacrifice the long term for a win-now proposition. But if the Leafs brass wants to get right back into the hunt for serious contention, this could do it.

All of that being said, Dreger concludes, "That's the kind of stuff that's actually fun to speculate on. But I'm still on the side of, it's probably not gonna happen."