Rumor: Big trade between the Leafs and Oilers “not impossible.”

This has the potential to be a massive deal for both teams. 

Both the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs remain in a heated playoff race in their respective conferences and with the trade deadline for the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season drawing closer and closer each day both teams are running out of time to make potential upgrades to their roster. It seems likely that both these teams will look to add at the trade deadline given both their current position in the standings as well as the expectations placed upon both teams by both their organizations and their respective fan bases, but one NHL insider believes that the two could actually make for decent trade partners ahead of that deadline.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Toronto Maple Leafs insider James Mirtle proposed what would be a massive trade deal between the Maple Leafs and the Oilers, a deal that would have drastic playoff implications for both teams. Although he did admit that the deal would be easier to pull off during the offseason, Mirtle suggested that the Leafs could look to add both veteran Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson and young Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi in a deal ahead of the trade deadline. Of course that wouldn't come cheap for the Leafs, with Mirtle believing that Kasperi Kapanen would have to be the centerpiece of that deal from the Leafs side of the equation, but it is one that he feels could improve positions of weakness for both teams as they head into the postseason.

From Mirtle:

I continue to argue there’s potentially an interesting trade to be made between Toronto and Edmonton. It’ll be harder to make before the deadline than in the off-season, but perhaps not impossible.

The Oilers desperately still need more help on the wing, and that’s an area that the Leafs have depth to spare. The Oilers are also very intrigued by the potential of someone like Kapanen to play with Connor McDavid and give them more of a threat up the lineup.

To be clear Mirtle does not believe that this deal would be a straight up 2 for 1, adding that he feels another asset would have to be involved in the Leafs' package to get this deal done. It is probably a long shot to see something like this getting done midseason, but what an interesting shake up this would be for both teams.