{"id":485955,"date":"2026-03-05T01:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/485955\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T01:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:09:22","slug":"maple-leafs-and-panthers-become-trade-deadline-sellers-with-playoffs-likely-out-of-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/485955\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs and Panthers become trade deadline sellers with playoffs likely out of reach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida Panthers centre Sam Bennett (9) skates with the puck as Toronto Maple Leafs centre Bobby McMann (74) defends during a game last month in Sunrise, Fla.Lynne Sladky\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A decade has passed since the Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, their nine-year streak the longest going in the NHL.<\/p>\n

The Florida Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions who have made three consecutive trips to the final while qualifying in each of the past six seasons.<\/p>\n

Unless something shockingly rare happens, neither Eastern Conference mainstay will make it this spring, with lofty expectations derailed by major absences.<\/p>\n

Toronto has seemingly never recovered from Mitch Marner not returning as a free agent and doing a sign-and-trade with Vegas to salvage some value for the perennial point-a-game-plus producer. Florida has been ravaged by injuries, no one more significant than captain Aleksander Barkov\u2019s torn right ACL that has sidelined the do-it-all first-line centre since training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe burden hasn\u2019t gotten heavier,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just had fewer men to shoulder it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a quarter of the schedule left to go, players on either side are quick to point out there is a lot of hockey left. But the trade deadline is Friday, and each of these teams is expected to be a seller.<\/p>\n

That is incredibly unfamiliar territory for a couple of contenders used to their general managers buying at this time of year. Instead, players are skating on eggshells wondering what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t go sit around and talk to every guy [about] what they\u2019re thinking, but they\u2019re obviously thinking about it \u2013 it\u2019s natural,\u201d Leafs coach Craig Berube said. \u201cThe deadline\u2019s around the corner here and there\u2019s a lot of talk and noise, but you\u2019ve got to block it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also being blocked out is how much of a herculean effort it would take to make up ground. Only eight teams in each conference get in. Toronto is sitting 13th and Florida 14th out of 16.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leaf William Nylander (88) celebrates his goal with teammate Auston Matthews (34) during their Monday game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Toronto.Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a daunting task,\u201d said Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk, who missed the first 47 games after surgery to repair a sports hernia and a torn adductor muscle and didn\u2019t debut until Jan. 19. \u201cWe all know it. I mean, we know the points that we have to get in with. Ultimately, it\u2019s probably going to be higher than the normal in the East. And there\u2019s a lot of teams ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Columbus, Washington, Ottawa and Philadelphia are all ahead in the standings and also on the outside looking in. Toronto is nine points back of the second and final wild-card spot with 21 games to play and Florida 10 back.<\/p>\n

Panthers forward Tomas Nosek, who on Tuesday night played his first game since the Cup final last June after undergoing off-season knee surgery, said he and his teammates \u201ccannot look at the math. When you start looking at the math, you\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs, who have not had long postseason runs like the Panthers but also have made the playoffs every year since Auston Matthews broke into the league, are not yet ready to publicly discuss what blew this season horribly off course.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at a lot of different factors,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and speculate on what went wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more complicated than just missing Marner, though the collection of forwards GM Brad Treliving acquired to fill the void have not come close to doing so. Toronto has given up more goals than last season, scored slightly fewer and Berube has challenged players to bring more to the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep fighting and grinding,\u201d Berube said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have pride every night, every shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers showed over the past few years since Maurice took over and Tkachuk joined in a trade from Calgary that they have plenty of pride and never lack work ethic or effort. But the missing pieces on a nightly basis, including Seth Jones\u2019 broken collarbone from the Winter Classic on Jan. 2 that knocked him out of going to the Olympics, have taken a toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at six or seven guys on average out every single night, and that\u2019s a lot,\u201d Maurice said. \u201cWhat I love about them is that they keep trying and they keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trying to make up for losing a heart-and-soul player and leader such as Barkov has seemingly put Florida\u2019s fuel tank on empty. Much of the roster has played dozens upon dozens of extra games from the long playoff runs, and the fatigue factor is showing, even if players are not ready to surrender the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what the situation is,\u201d said Anton Lundell, who was tasked with taking Barkov\u2019s spot. \u201cI think right now we just look one game at a time and not too much further ahead or behind. We just try to stay in the moment. Obviously, we\u2019re going to fight till the end and we\u2019re going to give everything we can and fight together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliver Ekman-Larsson hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2024 as part of a stint with the Panthers that revitalized his career. Now with the Maple Leafs \u2013 and maybe not for long given his trade value \u2013 the 34-year-old defenceman has made the playoffs just four times in 15 years and understands all too well how to handle when the downs outweigh the ups in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re searching for answers,\u201d Ekman-Larsson said. \u201cYou\u2019re searching for things that you can do better. That\u2019s every day. It doesn\u2019t really [just start] around the trade deadline or whatever. You\u2019re always trying to get better in different ways. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right time to stand here and point fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Florida Panthers centre Sam Bennett (9) skates with the puck as Toronto Maple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[1018,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,1014,1016,1013,1007,62,57,5141,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,63,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,86,1015,1017,1005,999,996,1029],"class_list":["post-485955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida-panthers","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-florida","tag-florida-panthers","tag-floridapanthers","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-hockey","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nhl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-panthers","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}