Leafs’ blockbuster trade falling apart over sky-high asking price

It’s not easy for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I’m not just talking about the start to the 2025-26 season on the ice. Off it ain’t simple either. According to insider Darren Dreger, the Maple Leafs are discovering just how impossible it is to swing big on the trade market right now. The problem isn’t a lack of need, it’s a lack of assets.

Toronto desperately wants a top-four defenseman, but every time they pick up the phone, the conversation ends the same way: rival teams ask for Matthew Knies, Easton Cowan, Ben Danford, or the Leafs’ 2028 first-round pick.

That’s it. Those are the pieces other GMs want, and the Leafs simply don’t have the appetite or the depth to part with them.

Can you imagine the outrage in Toronto if Brad Treliving moved one of those key pieces?!

Dreger didn’t mince words on TSN’s OverDrive: Toronto’s cupboard is “not full,” and teams know it. With the blue line inconsistent and the Leafs stuck in cap jail, Brad Treliving is operating with almost no wiggle room.

On Thursday, the Maple Leafs did place forward David Kampf on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract, and have no cap consequences since they had already paid his $1.325 million signing bonus. Kampf walked away from ~$3 million remaining.

The question now becomes: can Toronto actually improve without sacrificing a key piece of its future? Or will the Leafs be forced to ride out the storm with what they have?