The holiday roster freeze is coming, and it leaves the Maple Leafs one real window to act

There's no indication that despite Toronto's 12-11-3 record that the team is close to pulling the trigger on any trades, but that hasn't meant the Leafs haven't been searching.

Reports have indicated that the Leafs are looking at what options exist on the trade market, but nothing suggesting that the Leafs are on the verge of making a deal soon.

If the Leafs want to help the team right away, they'll have a limited window remaining for this stretch before the league goes into the holiday roster freeze.

If Brad Treliving wants to add an impactful player to take into the new year, he has just a short amount of time remaining to do so.

Toronto his six more games until the NHL's roster freeze, testing Toronto as the next few games determine what path they'll take.

The NHL's winter roster freeze starts on December 19th at 11:59 p.m. and rund until December 28th at 12:01 a.m., with no transactions able to be made either internally or externally.

During that period, teams would not be able to make a trade or any other transaction under the end of December, leaving the Leafs as a team with holes having only two weeks left if their goal is to make a deal now.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are tasked with adding to their team, but will have to not overreact and make a panic move with the winter roster freeze looming if their goal is to add quickly.

The question for the Leafs is how long the team is able to put off making a move, which has been clear to be where Toronto is headed as injuries pile up and more is needed out of key areas.

The Leafs have two holes on the right side of their defense with the absences of Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo, while on the left side could be looking at a potential long-term Morgan Rielly replacement.

At forward, the Leafs might still be in contention to add a top-six forward, and area that reporters have constantly linked Toronto as a priority area to improve on if there's a potential option in the trade market.

Toronto could also be in line to add a depth forward as recent acquisitions such as Scott Laughton and Dakota Joshua have lacked the offensive punch Toronto had hoped for when acquiring them.

Treliving has two options until the roster freeze, he can make a quick upgrade before the freeze happens and beat some opponents to a key addition, or hold firm and run with the current team and reevaluate closer to the trade deadline, although risking a more competitive market.

As the Toronto Maple Leafs eye certain areas worth fixing in their lineup, if they want to act before the freeze, they don't have much time to decide what their goals are going to be.