Maple Leafs have already targeted Mitch Marner’s replacement on trade market

In his end-of-season press conference on Thursday, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving made it clear that significant changes were coming and the feeling is that Mitch Marner will test free agency and leave Toronto.

“There will be change moving forward.” Treliving said. “There’s some DNA that has to change in our team. If you keep getting to the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change. That’s on me going forward.

“We’ve now started the planning, and it’s early, for putting a team together for 2025-26.”

While we get that the GM needs to make those significant changes, one report has stunned many fans with David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period hinting at the possibility of the Maple Leafs going after veteran forward Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers as a replacement for Marner.

The past season was a tough one for Kreider, whose production has diminished in 20 goals and five assists in 63 games, but also his health has taken a toll. He’s missed time with a nagging lower-back injury, but it got worse when he landed on the trade block as a leaked memo surfaced in November that general manager Chris Drury was trying to move him, naming Kreider as a trade candidate.

Kreider’s production and publicly stated lower-back issues likely hurt his trade value, but it could play in Toronto’s favour, though fans are worried about what he can truly bring to the Maple Leafs.

Kreider has two years remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $6.5 million and could possibly fetch fair value back in a trade. However, who knows if the blow of this campaign will carry over into the offseason and if the Rangers will be willing to accept a lesser return, retain salary in the deal, or both. He also has a 15-team ‘no-trade’ that could complicate things…

At this point, we do not know what the Rangers have in mind for Kreider, but Pagnotta believes the Blue Shirts could be getting a phone call from the Maple Leafs.