The Toronto Maple Leafs will be buyers throughout the regular season and a trade pitch has them re-acquiring a veteran defenseman.
The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades. One user proposed a deal that would see the Maple Leafs re-acquire Luke Schenn from the Nashville Predators.
Maple Leafs acquire:
Luke Schenn ($950k retained)
Michael McCarron
Predators acquire:
Timothy Liljegren
Nick Robertson
The proposed deal does make sense as the Maple Leafs acquire two impact players to help their lineup this season, while Nashville gets two younger players who can help them in the future.
Schenn is in the second year of his three-year $8.25 million deal. He was selected fifth overall by Toronto in the 2008 NHL draft and spent the first four years with the Maple Leafs. After 11 years away, Toronto re-acquired the veteran defenseman at the 2023 NHL trade deadline. Schenn could be another shutdown defender and make Toronto even that much tougher to play against.
McCarron, meanwhile, is in the first year of his two-year $1.8 million deal. The forward can be a bottom-six winger with the Maple Leafs and add some physicality and size to the bottom of the lineup.
In return, Toronto would deal former first-round pick Liljegren. The defenseman has been a healthy scratch with the Maple Leafs and all signs point to him being traded.
Robertson, meanwhile, requested a trade this summer but opted to sign a one-year deal. However, the forward still could be traded and he could help add some much-needed offense to the Predators lineup.
Liljegren A Likely Trade Candidate For Maple Leafs
Liljegren was beaten out by Conor Timmins for the sixth defenseman role with the Maple Leafs, as the Swede has been a healthy scratch.
With Liljegren being a healthy scratch, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that Toronto is looking to move the former first-round pick.
“Sounds like Toronto is working to find a landing spot for Timothy Liljegren. He’s down the depth chart, not a situation anyone is happy with,” Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts article.
Liljegren was called out by new Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube during training camp, which has further led to the trade rumors.
“Lily’s gotta do things quicker. He’s got to be a little bit heavier in his battles, moving pucks quicker and simplify his game,” Berube said. “He’s obviously battling. He wants to be a guy in the lineup every night, and that’s great. But sometimes you put too much on your plate. Simplify the game a little bit more. And do your job as a defenceman killing plays and being heavy.”
Liljegren has skated in just 1 game this season.
Predators Searching For 1st Win Of Season
Nashville made a splash this offseason signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei.
After the three impact signings, the Predators became a legit Stanley Cup contender. However, Nashville is 0-5 to begin the season which is frustrating for the team.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Preds forward Ryan O’Reilly said. “I think it falls on myself, the leadership group; we’re the engine here, and we’re not finding a way to get a win… It’s the little mistakes that are killing us. It’s giveaways or losing faceoffs, those are the kinds of things that are making the difference right now that has to be better.”
Schenn, who won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, says the team needs to be better everywhere to turn the season around.
“Part of being a pro, or at least a good pro, is trying to keep a positive mindset,” Schenn said. “And every guy in here knows individually we can do things better, and we can do things better collectively. It’s just on the group in here to keep pushing on, and there’s a lot of hockey left. I mean, it can swing the other way, too… We’ve just got to keep pushing, and we’re eventually going to get some breaks here.”
Nashville hosts the Boston Bruins on October 22.
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