Treliving's Big Miss: Leafs Lost Out on Defenseman to Division Rival Over Just $500K

A priority during the 2024 off-season for Leafs GM Brad Treliving was to revamp the club's blueline. The remodeling began with the trade and signing of Chris Tanev followed by the signing of Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

He then brought in Jani Hakanpaa, though that didn't work out as planned, as well as Philippe Myers and Dakota Mermis to complete the transformation and add some depth.

Prior to the 2024 off-season, Treliving had tried multiple times to acquire Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames. Unfortunately, he and Flames GM Craig Conroy were unable to agree to terms of a trade due to Flames ownership holding a grudge after Treliving walked away from the team to take a job with the Leafs.

Ultimately, Zadorov was traded to the Vancouver Canucks before he hit free agency on July 1st, 2024. When he reached free agency, the Leafs were among those bidding for his services, but the former first-round pick chose to sign with the Boston Bruins for six years, with the Bruins outbidding the Leafs by the slimmest of margins.

In a late-night edition of his written '32 Thoughts', Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman shared that the Bruins outbid the Leafs for the Russian defenseman by $500K.

Had the Leafs chosen to up their offer, they could have one of the best bluelines in the league. On top of that, they wouldn't have had to watch the 6-foot-7, 256-pounder injure Scott Laughton and Auston Matthews in consecutive games last week.

Hindsight is 20/20, but now that fans know that the Leafs missed out by such a small margin, this may be considered one of Treliving's biggest blunders in his short time as GM of the Leafs.