Insider believes polarizing winger will remain with the Leafs past the deadline

According to NHL insider, Elliotte Friedman, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas, has been hard at work the last few weeks calling every other GM around the league that has an available forward and/or defenseman ahead of the trade deadline. Does anyone else recall the infamous photo of Dubas talking to two rival GMs on two separate cell phones simultaneously? Well, picture him doing the same thing right now, albeit with an additional phone or two.

The Maple Leafs are currently enjoying another successful regular season campaign with a 30-11-8 record. They are sitting pretty in second place in the Atlantic Division, 12 points behind first and 7 points up on third - but Tampa Bay has 3 games in hand.

Dubas and literally everyone within the Leafs organization understands the importance of each and every regular season with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander under team control. In doing so, they've been diligently working the phones trying to find the perfect upgrades that work best for GM and head coach.

Friedman believes that Dubas has no problem trading a forward to open up some additional cap space, and with Alexander Kerfoot and Pierre Engvall earning well above the league minimum, they could be two candidates that the Leafs could look to move. However, Friedman also pointed out that Sheldon Keefe likes Kerfoot's versatility and if Dubas wants to take away one of Keefe's favourite toys, he may have to put a positive spin on it to get the coach's buy-in (not that he needs it). Per Friedge, if Dubas does want Keefe to see eye-to-eye, he'll simply have to go out and get a tangible improvement.


The Leafs have been linked to several marquee names ahead of the March 3rd trade deadline like Timo Meier and Jake McCabe among others. Whether a deal can be made is one thing but it sounds like the front office and coaching staff might be working together to find what works best for the team ahead of a very important post-season.