Every November in Toronto feels the same: the Toronto Maple Leafs wobble, fans tug at loose threads, and everyone wants to know if general manager Brad Treliving has a blockbuster tucked in his desk. This week, Elliotte Friedman poured a little cold water on that whole line of thinking.
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There was no drama in his conversation, just the logic that – given all that’s happening with the team – the chances of any trade are unlikely. In anything, Friedman is a logical guy. The conversation in the video below represents the steady, reasonable tone of a hockey analyst who’s been around the league long enough to know what’s real and what’s just smoke.
Friedman’s Point One: Maple Leafs’ Effort Is More Crucial than Roster Construction
Friedman made an interesting point that slipped by almost casually: there’s only so much you can blame on roster construction. Maple Leafs’ head coach Craig Berube can’t control who he’s handed, but he can control how they play. Effort, structure, and readiness are supposed to travel, no matter who’s in the lineup. You can’t fix a slow backcheck with a trade call. You can only fix that with an attitude change.
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That’s where Friedman steered the conversation in this interview. Although he didn’t say it blatantly, the grounding of his argument is that the team lacks effort and responsibility. As he noted, you can’t control the bounces of the puck. However, you can control your work ethic and on-ice intent.
You scramble with urgency. You play with pride. If the team isn’t doing those things, that’s not a trade problem. That’s an internal one, and that’s where Friedman landed pretty squarely.
Friedman’s Point Two: The Market Isn’t Offering Much Anyway
Even if the Maple Leafs wanted to swing for the fences, Friedman doesn’t think there’s much out there right now. Maple Leafs’ fans can dream about difference-makers, but names don’t magically appear because Toronto needs one.
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It’s early yet. That means that most teams are still in the “wait and see” phase of the season. Those who would trade someone significant want returns that border on the unreasonable. For Friedman, although he answered the questions the best he could, that alone slowed the whole conversation before it really started.
Friedman’s Point Three: The Maple Leafs Don’t Have the Assets for a True Blockbuster Trade
Friedman then brought up a hypothetical. What would it take for the Maple Leafs to bring in someone like Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames? He’s certainly the kind of top-pairing defender the team could use, and there’s no doubt that he’d help.
But the price begins with Matthew Knies, and the room fell silent. The members of this panel all knew it, and, for the Maple Leafs, that’s not happening. [At last season’s trade deadline, the Maple Leafs moved Fraser Minten for Brandon Carlo, and it seems to have come back to bite them.]
Matthew Knies, Toronto Maple Leafs (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)
The fact is that nobody with any sense in Toronto sees Knies as expendable. In fact, he’s the one forward consistently playing the way Berube wants the entire roster to play. So, when the first ask in a negotiation is the guy who’s dragging the team into battles most nights, the trade conversation dies right there.
Friedman’s Point Four: Treliving Has a Hard Line — And That Matters
The part of the discussion that stuck with me was Friedman’s memory of last season. The Maple Leafs pushed on a couple of players. They even tried to manufacture a “double move” to get two pieces at once. The team wanted to get creative. But, as the asking price grew and grew, at some point, Toronto said: “That’s too much.”
That’s the story here. The Maple Leafs will look. They’ll ask. But they aren’t going to torch their future, again, for a rental or a player who isn’t truly elite. They have a history of making such moves, and it seldom works out.
So What’s the Real Question for the Maple Leafs?
Friedman framed it perfectly: The Maple Leafs are looking. They’re always looking. But what’s their line today? What won’t they sacrifice? They may need a defender. They may want a difference-maker. But they also know what they can’t replace internally — and Knies is near the top of that list.
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There’s a time for big swings. There’s also a time to hold your ground. Right now, it sounds like Toronto is doing more holding than swinging.