Maple Leafs Blockbuster Trade Proposal Swaps Superstars With Rangers
With the free agent market nearly void of options two weeks into July, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers find themselves in similar positions with the remaining needs on their rosters for the 2024-25 season.
The Rangers are still looking for a top-line right winger to support Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. The Maple Leafs lack depth in their defense corps while having a surplus of forwards.
Coincidentally, each team could be interested in moving a player that fits the other’s needs: right winger Mitch Marner of the Maple Leafs and right defenseman Jacob Trouba of the Rangers.
Heavy Sports‘ trade proposal swaps the two, giving New York the top-line forward they need in exchange for a defenseman who would slot nicely as a second-pair defenseman for the Leafs.
For this trade to happen, however, both players would need to accept the transaction. Marner has a full no-move clause baked into his contract for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Meanwhile, Trouba has a 15-team no-trade list for the 2024 season, and he’d need to leave Toronto outside of it.
That said, both teams and players make for perfect salary and cap-space matches in the event of a trade. According to PuckPedia, a one-for-one trade would work for both franchises.
The Leafs would end up with $3.8 million in cap space and the Rangers would absorb the difference in the players’ salaries. New York has $5.1 million in cap space before completing the trade, more than enough to land Marner’s cap-hit difference.
