Leafs Reportedly Walked Away From Blockbuster Knies-for-Rantanen Trade, per Friedman

After the playoffs ended unceremoniously for the Maple Leafs, there are a lot of questions about what is going to happen in the future, and what the team is going to look like heading into the 2025-26 season.

But they might have been in a different spot if things had gone a bit outside of the box.

It was reported earlier on this season that the Maple Leafs had a potential deal in place to trade Mitch Marner to the Carolina Hurricanes but was nixed thanks to the forward deciding to hold onto his no-movement clause.

However, according to Elliotte Friedman on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast, the Maple Leafs could have had both Marner and Rantanen, it only would have cost them a potential future superstar.

While it wasn't known for sure if it was Carolina or Colorado that would have been the team, either way it remains a fact that both teams would have been made drastically different; and better.

Toronto would add that premier forward with proven playoff credentials and a serious killer instinct that the team lacks; besides his production with Toronto in a playoff scenario may have made Mitch Marner a bit more expendable.

But it also would have ripped away a budding superstar from Toronto, one who exploded in 2024-25 and is poised to be one of the NHL's best power forwards if not the best in a few years.

You can't compare the two as they are vastly different players, but with another disappointing Game 7 in the books, it might have been a calculated risk.

With Colorado, they would have received an instant top line superstar to pair with Nathan MacKinnon and with the reemergence of Gabriel Landeskog and the brilliant Cale Makar; they could have been a force to be reckoned with.

It also maybe would have given Colorado pause at the deadline and prevented them from acquiring Brock Nelson; a move in hindsight that really backfired for the Avs.

Carolina would have gotten even better, though it's not certain if Knies would put together the same type of production as both Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven; two pieces who came over in separate Rantanen deals, but it's close.

Hall is a proven producer and Stankoven is just coming into his own at only 21 years old. Combined, they had 11 points (5G, 6A) meanwhile Knies had only seven points in 13 games but matched their goal total.

This season, Knies broke out with 58 points in 78 games (29G< 29A) while adding 182 hits, 41 blocks, and a plus-7 rating in 18:31 TOI; nearly a five minute increase from last year.

We're not expecting Knies to become a playmaker by any means, but he did end up with only four points in Game 7 and was a non-factor after Game 3 (though he did end up injured in the series).

We'll never know for sure if either player would have been truly as impactful as we think they would, but if history and current optics are to be trusted, it wouldn't have been a bad deal, and perhaps Toronto is kicking themselves after getting kicked out.