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The Toronto Maple Leafs have been playoff contenders over the last several seasons. This season, Toronto finds themselves in a totally different situation. The Maple Leafs lost another game in the shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Monday night.
With the loss for Toronto, they have a 27-24-10 record with 64 points this season. With just 21 games remaining in the regular season, the Maple Leafs have a long shot to reach the playoffs. They will have two games against the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers before the Friday, March 6 NHL trade deadline.
Even with those games, this shouldn't change the mind of general manager Brad Treliving's selling plans. They should not be buyers.
NHL Analyst Thinks That the Toronto Maple Leafs are Better Off Selling
Bryan Hayes of TSN talked about if the Maple Leafs should tear it all down or not at the trade deadline on Friday. Hayes said, "The more selling the better." This team is in need of prospects and also draft capital. Toronto needs to find a way to trade a lot of players on the roster at the trade deadline.
They won't be trading away Auston Matthews, William Nylander, or John Tavares on Friday most likely, but everything else should be on the table for this team. Toronto is not going to the playoffs anyways this season. This is a team that might also need to start all over. This was a team that just made the playoffs last season, but it also appears as if this franchise has hit its ceiling with this core.
There will be not a lot of pending free agents on the Maple Leafs roster this upcoming offseason. Toronto is going to have to get creative at the NHL trade deadline and Treliving has a lot of work to do.