Blockbuster trade scenario emerges sending top-4 defenseman to the Toronto Maple Leafs

Brad Treliving, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, made significant acquisitions to bolster his blue line during the offseason, such as Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as well as signing Timothy Liljegren to a two-year extension.

However, a new report suggested a trade that could push Treliving to add another top-4 defenseman: Colton Parayko from the St. Louis Blues.

Parayko, 31, has five years left on his $6,500,000 AAV contract and has spent his entire career with the Blues. He notably won the Cup with the Leafs' new head coach Craig Berube in 2019.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, Parayko is a valuable player, and acquiring him on the trade market will come with a hefty cost.

Here's the proposal the proposal suggested by Heavy.com:

As you can see, the Leafs would need to part ways with an established NHL defenseman, one of their top prospects, a reliable veteran, and the restricted free agent Nicholas Robertson, who publicly expressed his wish to be traded out of the Maple Leafs organization.

It would be surprising to see Brad Treliving part ways with all those players, but going after Parayko doesn't seem so absurd, as he could be a key addition to the blue line for the next season when the Leafs look to take their game to the next level.

The Maple Leafs defense would look like the following:

Rielly Tanev
OEL Parayko
McCabe Benoit

In the 2023-24 season, Parayko scored 26 points, including 10 goals, in 82 games with the Blues.

Source: Heavy.com
Trade Pitch Has Maple Leafs Acquiring $52 Million Defensemen in Blockbuster

Source for Colton Parayko's statistics: Hockey DB