The Maple Leafs Could Be Forced to Trade a Promising Prospect - and Sooner Than You Think

Given how the Toronto Maple Leafs' prospect system hasn't been the greatest, they've done their due diligence recently to make sure that their system is stocked after having to trade away some intriguing prospects at the trade deadline.

After signing a slew of free agents fresh out of college, Brad Treliving and company need to figure out how best they fit into the future plans of the team. One player who most likely won't is defenseman Topi Niemela.

Named as one of the few prospects who could be elsewhere next season, should the Maple Leafs get rid of one of their longest-tenured prospects?

Without a doubt they should. If things haven't worked out yet for Niemala there's a very low chance he's going to get any chance especially with how Toronto's defense is currently locked up.

We have Morgan Rielly, Brandon Carlo, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Philippe Myers on multi-year deals, and with Simon Benoit, Cade Webber, John Prokop, and Noah Chadwick already on the team or fighting for spots, it's hard to see him fitting in now.

Known to be a sound defensive player with some offensive upside, Niemala loses his waiver exemption at the end of the season, so if the Maple Leafs wanted to bring him up they will need to risk losing him for nothing if they have to send him down; so why not try to recoup assets if you're afraid of losing him anyways?

He won't fetch a superstar or anything of the sort, but he does offer some intrigue for a rebuilding team, and could be a solid addition as a trade piece for someone like Chris Kreider; and might be enticing for a team who prefers hockey IQ to pure size.

With the Marlies this season, he's only skated in 58 games and has 20 points; a steep fall-off from his previous season, and while it's unknown exactly why he couldn't replicate his past performance, he's not completely terrible, but he doesn't have a spot here.

So it may be the end for Topi Niemala in the Maple Leafs organization, but for no fault of his own. He just ended up being in the wrong spot with a team looking to add size instead of finesse; which might actually bring them success this time around.