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The Toronto Maple Leafs could be looking to move on from a veteran defenseman, but that blueliner won’t be Morgan Rielly.<\/p>\n
The noise surrounding the Toronto Maple<\/a> Leafs as they head into the 2026 offseason is much louder than in other seasons. Sure, the chatter is always roaring in Toronto. But this offseason, the noise will be deafening.<\/p>\n During Thursday\u2019s exit interviews, the somber tone across the organization underscored how tough the season was for the Maple Leafs. One of the players who seemed to be saying his goodbyes was longtime defenseman Morgan Rielly.<\/p>\n However, it won\u2019t be Morgan Rielly who\u2019ll likely bid adieu this offseason. Another veteran defenseman could be on the way out.<\/p>\n That blueliner is Oliver Ekman-Larsson.<\/p>\n The 34-year-old had somewhat of a resurgent season in Toronto this year. He scored eight goals and 39 points in 78 games. He was a tough, stabilizing force in what was an otherwise disappointing performance for the Maple Leafs blueline corps. In fact, Ekman-Larsson generated plenty of attention at the trade deadline. However, former GM Brad Treliving botched the situation by not budging from his astronomical asking price.<\/p>\n That could change this offseason. Treliving\u2019s successor could look to cash in this chip, potentially taking advantage of a team in need of a solid, veteran third-pairing defenseman.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth pointing out that the team that reportedly showed the most interest in Ekman-Larsson was the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>. Edmonton eventually settled on Connor Murphy of the Chicago Blackhawks at the deadline.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s unlikely that rumors regarding Ekman-Larsson will go away this summer.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs Will Have Easier Time Trading Ekman-Larsson than Rielly<\/p>\n The Maple Leafs will have an overall easier time trading Ekman-Larsson than Rielly. For starters, Ekman-Larsson has a 16-team no-trade clause. That\u2019s a huge difference compared to Rielly\u2019s full no-movement clause.<\/p>\n Also, Ekman-Larsson comes with a $3.5 million cap hit over the next two seasons. That\u2019s much more palatable for teams that might view Rielly\u2019s $7.5 million cap hit for the next four seasons as totally untenable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth pointing out that Ekman-Larsson has said he wants to stay in Toronto. So, the organization could respect his wishes and keep him in the fold. After all, Ekman-Larsson is a serviceable defenseman. He\u2019s the type of blueliner the Maple Leafs will need if the club wants to have a quick turnaround next season.<\/p>\n What to read next: Maple Leafs 2025-26 Season Squandered Unless This Happens<\/a><\/p>\n Toronto Can\u2019t Expect a Substantial Return for Ekman-Larsson<\/p>\n Rumors suggested the Maple Leafs were asking for a first-round pick at this year\u2019s deadline for Ekman-Larsson. While the Leafs can\u2019t be blamed for setting a high asking price, the fact is that a more reasonable price tag would have gotten the deal done.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the Maple Leafs can\u2019t expect a substantial return for Ekman-Larsson even if a deal could get over the finish line.<\/p>\n Perhaps something more akin to the Scott Laughton deal is what the Leafs could expect for the veteran blueliner. In that regard, the idea of moving Ekman-Larsson would have to boil down to his willingness to leave and the team\u2019s desire to move on from him.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one caveat to this entire conversation. The Maple Leafs would need to find a suitable replacement for Ekman-Larsson\u2019s overall play and production. If Toronto can find such a player, then Ekman-Larsson could become expendable, irrespective of the return the organization can get for him this summer.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL analyst and baseball writer focused on covering clubs across each league with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor’s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. Nestor’s fondness for baseball and hockey set the tone for his love and passion for writing about sports. More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Toronto Maple Leafs could be looking to move on from a veteran defenseman, but that blueliner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-555209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","14":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116425431309476160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555209","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=555209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}