REPORT: Elliotte Friedman Reveals the Two Star Defenseman the Leafs May Acquire in One Blockbuster Trade

We're in the month of February and things have remained status quo regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs defensive struggle. It's like a broken record, every year the Leafs fail to achieve their expectations, and the excuse always falls to their weak defence. This year, Brad Treliving and his scouting group have made it clear they are looking to strengthen their blue line, and we now know who they may be looking at.

Treliving can call on his old team

In a report by Elliotte Friedman yesterday in 32Thoughts podcast, he mentioned the idea of the Leafs acquiring both Calgary Flames Defensemen Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev. Both defensemen are pending UFA's at the end of the season, and GM Craig Conroy isn't afraid to do a fire sale.




Last week Conroy traded their number one centre, Elias Lindholm for a haul of a 1st round pick in 2024, Andrei Kuzmenko and two prospects from the Vancouver Canucks.

What can a potential trade look like for the Leafs

For the Leafs to acquire both in a potential blockbuster, they must give up a ton of assets. A trade can look like this:

TRADE PROPOSAL

Leafs receive: Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin

Flames receive: 2025 first round pick, Nick Robertson, Topi Niemala and a 2026 4th round pick


Very expensive price, but those two guys hold a large value for the Flames, and are probably the two best defensemen out there on the market ahead of the trade deadline.

More details to come.