
Maple Leafs Trade Targets & Rangers/Blackhawks 2025 Plan
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- 3 Jan 2025
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Is there a middle six center out there that makes sense for this team? I mean, way to narrow it down. But that's not the first time you've mentioned that you wouldn't be surprised if you saw the least make a move in that area. But is there a guy that makes sense?
I don't have a name yet. It's not because I'm skirting the question. I just think- No, I get you. We have to wait to see exactly which teams become sellers. Obviously, we're doing trade boards. We're already projecting guys like Yanny Gord, like likely to be moved, I would say, by the Seattle Kraken, but not for sure. I mean, if, and it's a monster if, but if the Islanders were to move on from Brock Nelson and other pending UFA, I think he would make a lot of sense for the Leaps. Frankly, I think he'd make a ton of sense for Minnesota, Dallas, Vegas, a lot of the teams that are trying to gear up for a long playoff run just because of the versatility he brings, the way he plays. But there's a feeling that the Islanders, even with him being a UFA to be and even with them being out of the playoff, they're not really in the thick of the playoff the mix right now that they still might not necessarily trade him. There's a bunch of guys, but it's probably more than likely going to be a rental player. There's a world, maybe it's a guy with some term, but the Leifs really like Fraser Minton, and I think certainly by next season, they see him being one of their centers.
They're going to keep Matthews. I think they're ultimately going to keep John tomorrow. So they might not necessarily want to bring a player in with term beyond this season. But again, it all comes down to cost and what's available. This is the cool part of getting to this part of the season is now I think a lot of the front offices and teams really narrow in on figuring out exactly what's available, and then you try to make the best choice you can make out of the pool of players. But it's going to be costly. Adam Henry cost Edminton a first round pick last year, and he's that similar guy. To bring in an impactful, semi-impactful player in the middle of the ice is going to cost them something. I I could see also the Leifs going for another depth defenseman just to round out the group. The saga of Yany Hockenpott continues. He still hasn't played a lot of games, and so I just don't know what you can expect from him, if anything at all, at this point when it really matters. It's going to be an active few weeks here for the Lefs.
As you know, internally, they're just hoping that everything aligns, that they make that trade, that Austin Matthews comes back healthy. Anthony Stollars rejoins the lineup, and then they finish the season strong and are ready for a long playoff run.
All right, that does it for our first Leifs Corner of 2025. We led the show with Leifs Corner. Good start.
Someone recently critiques Me and said we hadn't talked enough leaves on the pod.
Oh, really? Yes. Who said that?
I don't remember, but it was one of my buddies.
Okay, well, we'll rectify that. We'll definitely rectify that. I'm surprised it wasn't like Sid 6era or something like that. He's a big fan of Leef's Corner. Anyway, Rancher's corner. We didn't expect to have that be so prominent throughout this year, but man, this year has been so wild. I had them as the team coming out of the Eastern Conference. They're in the basement now, essentially in the Eastern Conference now. If you didn't think it could get any worse, Igor Shosturkin is on injured reserve. What do we know about that injury and how much worse can it really get for the New York Ranchers?
Well, we don't know a lot about the injury. It was part of a collision with Sam Bennett in the game. Lindgren and Bennett were tied up, and Bennett smashes into him. He gets placed on IR for now, which I guess is encouraging short term that IR is only a week-long stint where you have to be off the roster. It gives the team the flexibility to call up other players or another player. But I don't know the extent of what the situation is. But I've almost run out of words on the Rangers, quite honestly. What have they won? Four of 18 or 19 games back to November. It just feels as though it's a season where I can't imagine them getting it back on the rails. I'll be the first to put up my hand and say I'm wrong if I'm wrong. I was riding off the Pittsburgh Penguins pretty early in this season, and they're, lo and behold, they've hung around the playoff race, so I might end up being wrong about them. But with the Rangers, it's just hard to see the set of circumstances. It's not like they're one move away from everything clicking again.
It's not like they're a coaching change away from everything just being perfect. It feels deeper. Losing Shesterken, who obviously is their MVP, their best player. It's tough. You only hope for them that it's a shorter term injury, and they find a way through it. But there's just a lot of unrest on Broadway there. And maybe they can flip a switch. Maybe this holiday, like a little holiday break. I don't know. It doesn't feel like that to me. Just feels like this last season, but it's been pretty dramatic. It's like as the Big Apple turns, a little bit of a soap opera vibe around that Rangers team.
James Dolan, man. Just soap operas around that, man. I mean, look, if you follow the New York Dix, you have seen those soap operas take place as long as they have with that organization. It's not saying the Rangers can't have them, but this feels very New York Knicks-esque for me, watching this team get undone by a memo. Think about it. That train memo that came out how many weeks ago for Chris Jury. Everything since then has led to them being one point above the Buffalo Sabers in the Eastern Conference. They are one point up on the Buffalo Sabers in that conference. I'm going to repeat that again. One point. This is a team that was supposed to be in the Stanley Cup final this year coming out of the Eastern Conference.
Well, and they could have been last year. They were two games short of the final, right?
They're going to miss this year, man.
This is a good team. The other part here is, I don't know if you looked at their January schedule, but it's brutal. They are actually just entering one of those times where they're just playing top team, top team, road games. They don't have the right collection of teams to find themselves in, put it that way, coming up here. And so that adds into it because they're probably... I don't know. The season isn't lost yet. It's just so precariously close to it. And as I say, I just don't see what sparks the turnaround at this point. I mean, if anything, they've traded players out off the roster. They haven't gotten better with the moves they've made. Now, those moves weren't all meant to get better tomorrow, like in the moment. But I'm sorry, I'm rarely I'm a little lost for words on this pod. I'm a little lost for words when it comes to the Rangers, if I'm being honest. I just don't know what to make of it, and I don't know where they go next, which is, I think, what you want it. That's the essence of the discussion, right? Is like, what could they do to write the ship?
I mean, they might need to just blow up the ship and build a new one.
I mean, if they continue on the course that they're on, maybe James Higgens looks really good in a blue shirt. I don't know. Maybe that's it. It's It's just getting a top three pick in the draft. That helps. I don't know.
I don't know if they can fall that far, can they?
I mean, it's a good question. I don't know if they're that for your right. I don't think it gets that low, but...
No, they might get lucky. If you finish six last in the lead, you could still, I think, move up to the number one pick, right?
Seven points from the drop. Chicago, dead last at 26 points. Seven points. Seven points off. You need to go through a terrible January. We haven't talked enough about Chicago. How much you want to go without Chicago?
I don't have anything electrifying to say. They get the winter classic treatment there. It's a big marquee, and it just puts the spotlight on how difficult the season has been. This was supposed to be a step forward. There's no way around it. They went and spent big in free agency, made offseason additions, talked about better insulating the Bedards and some of their other younger players, and they're really no better off through almost half a season now than where they were last year. It's just a reminder. They're everywhere, but the rebuilds can be tough, even when you get great players. I'm certainly not hanging this on Conor Bedard's shoulders, but it's dangerous. They just feel like they're a long way away from being a long way away still, is what I'm going to say. It's not that they don't have really exciting prospects coming, but something feels off there. You saw the comments after the Winter Classic. I don't have them in front of me, but the players, it just seems like they're really down. Obviously, they fired a coach here in the last few weeks. They're another organization looking for answers, and I don't think there are any obvious ones in front of them.