Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
A new team has emerged as a potential trade partner for the Toronto Maple Leafs and could become serious players in a multi-player deal.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team that hold quite a few valuable assets that could be used to recoup a lot of their lost draft picks and add some youth to the lineup while opening up some much needed cap space.
Names like Bobby McMann and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are getting a lot of attention, and even Morgan Rielly has had his name thrown about in rumours as his time looks to be coming to an end in blue and white.
Utah looking to make mammoth (pun intended) splash
But there’s another team according to Darren Dreger who could be willing to make a splash and they certainly have the assets to do it.
Dreger appeared on the Sekeres & Price Show and revealed that the Utah Mammoth were a team looking to make a splash as GM Bill Armstrong has made it known he wants to improve upfront:
There’s an appetite there by Billy Armstrong to bolster what they have up front.
Utah is in a pretty good spot this season and has a pretty decent handle on a playoff spot all things considered. Stuck in a really tough Central Division, they have the first wild-card spot though have Anaheim and Los Angeles nipping at their heels.
But they would love to add some more firepower up front and the Maple Leafs are a perfect team considering who they have and what they want.
Why Toronto and Utah make perfect sense as trade partners
Utah has a staggering 10 picks in the 2026 draft, including six in the first three rounds. If the Maple Leafs were to dangle a package of Bobby McMann and Nicolas Roy/Scott Laughton plus maybe a depth defender like Simon Benoit — they could come out with a haul.
McMann could pull a first-rounder and if Utah is really pushing for the postseason they could be willing to part. If not, then he gets you at least two seconds, then you have Roy who can pull in at least a second and a third rounder himself.
Add Benoit for a cheap pick in 2027 (a fourth sounds perfectly fine) and Toronto has suddenly found themselves with seven picks in 2026 including multiple selections in the first three rounds.
But there’s also a player Toronto needs to target and that’s defenceman Maveric Lamoureux.
The 6-foot-7, 214-pound defender is a huge presence on the ice, is only 22 years old, has brief NHL experience and would be a great addition to a Maple Leafs team who needs to get younger.
He’s also got pretty good hands for a guy his size, and can certainly throw hits and block shots and there’s a world where he could turn into a foundational piece in the next few years.
If Toronto can pry some picks from Utah, and perhaps persuade Armstrong to part with Lamoureux then it would be a blockbuster coup that really came out of nowhere.
But for two teams who need help in their own way, maybe they can come together and find a deal that satisfies everyone involved.
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A trade partner is lining up for Toronto, and the fit is hard to ignore
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