The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade for Nicolaj Ehlers
obtain the best-case situation.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have an incredible team if players like Joseph Woll, Chris Tanev, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly stay healthy and do not regress, Matthew Knies has a breakout season, Easton Cowan joins the NHL, and all of the Big Three continue to be great.
However, a lot of things must go well for it to occur, so things must continue to become better.
One of the NHL’s most underappreciated and underestimated players, Nicolaj Ehlers, a top player for the Winnipeg Jets, is rumored to be available and could certainly strengthen the team for a moderate cost.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade for Nicolaj Ehlers
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At 6′ and 175 pounds, he is 28 years old. He is a left-winger and would be a better option than Tyler Bertuzzi, the Leafs’ former best left-winger.
Ehlers is underappreciated in part because injury and Covid ended his two finest seasons, during which he was pace for approximately 35 goals.
His 5v5 anticipated goals rating has only been below 50% once in his career, and it has been in the elite 54/55% range for the past two years.
Ehlers has never experienced a loss of 5v5 minutes throughout a whole season of real goals. When he was in the game last season, the Jets dominated the opposition, winning 62 to 33.
It appears that the Jets are unaware of the potential in Ehlers, who
Ehlers is constantly mentioned in trade rumours and he has a $6 million cap hit and a contract that expires after this season.
For a Leafs team that is all-in (based on their Chris Tanev play and it being Auston Matthew’s Prime) Ehlers would be an excellent aquisition because he’s a star player who is significantly more effective than Tyler Bertuzzi. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).
Furthermore, the Jets likely do not seem to value him properly and could, at least potentially, make a bad trade here.
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Brad Treliving has been the Leafs GM for over a year and is yet to make a significant trade, let alone a signature one. This could be it. The Leafs could really, really use a player like this and getting him would change the entire outlook of their off-season, which to date is extremely underwhelming.
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