Report: Maple Leafs’ Major Trade Plans Hit A Roadblock
Pagnotta explained on Daily Faceoff that the problem isn’t Toronto’s cap this season. “It affects them based on next season’s salary cap,” he said. “It limits what they want to do.”
The Leafs are almost up against next year’s cap already, and most of the defensemen they’ve looked at have term left on their deals. Toronto can’t take on those contracts until it moves money off its books for next season.
“And they’ve been trying, and nobody’s throwing them a lifeline,” Pagnotta said.
Leafs Need To Move Term First
Pagnotta said the Leafs would have to move players signed beyond this season before they can add, pointing to Dakota Joshua and Miles Wood, who is on injured reserve, as examples.
He said the defensemen Toronto has looked at are “guys that have term primarily.” Detroit’s Simon Edvinsson is the exception, but Pagnotta noted the Leafs couldn’t even pull that off this season if they acquired and then signed him.
"It limits what [Toronto's] trying to do. It limits what they want to do." David Pagnotta explains how the Maple Leafs' tagging problem is preventing them from making trades, including Toronto's pursuit of a top-four defenceman. More with @JeffMarek & @TheFourthPeriod on this Tuesday edition of DFO Insider!
— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) November 10, 2026
Toronto has been searching for more of a stay-at-home, top-four type, and Pagnotta has reported that the Leafs made at least exploratory inquiries about Calgary’s Zach Whitecloud earlier this fall.
The need hasn’t gone away. Chris Tanev went down with an upper-body injury on October 10 and was ruled week-to-week, and is now being load-managed in his return, and the Leafs already carry big cap hits on the back end, with Darren Raddysh at $8.5 million and Morgan Rielly at $7.5 million.
Cap Crunch Could Linger
Pagnotta warned the issue goes beyond this season. “It’s affecting their ability to improve the club this season,” he said. “Which would in turn, affect them beyond the season.”
He did note that not every team is making things hard on Toronto, saying only “some of them” have been unhelpful. But talks so far haven’t gotten far.
🚨 Zac McEwen, who left the game late last night, is NOT at practice this afternoon for the Maple Leafs. Chris Tanev has been shifted down to the third pair with Dakota Mermis, but there are no other changes to the lines or power play units, per @markhmasters Leafs lines at practice: Cowan-Matthews-Roslovic Tverberg-Tavares-Nylander McKenna-Paul-Joshua Duhaime-Blueger-McWard McCabe-Raddysh OEL-Stecher Mermis-Tanev Bobrovsky Stolarz #Leafs
— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) November 11, 2026
That leaves GM John Chayka trying to find a team willing to take on future money before he can make the kind of defensive upgrade Toronto has been chasing since the summer.
