Insider reveals Leafs' options after McCabe/Lafferty trade

On Monday, Toronto Maple Leafs' General Manager Kyle Dubas made another high-profile trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, acquiring defenseman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty. To secure the deal, the Leafs gave up a first-round pick (2025, top 10 protected), a second-round pick in 2026, depth winger Joey Anderson, and AHLer Pavel Gogolev. The Blackhawks retained 50% of McCabe's contract, and both McCabe and Lafferty have remaining term on their current deals. According to Frank Seravalli, there's more where that came from.

Another Trade Should Happen Soon In Toronto

Seravalli reported that the Leafs have another move in the works because they will exceed the salary cap if they do not remove someone from the active roster.


He raised two possibilities to explain Kyle Dubas' strategy:

Either Toronto isn't planning to activate Matt Murray until the playoffs. Then, they could use the same loophole as the Lightning did in 2021, with Nikita Kucherov; or they'll trade a member of their bottom-6.

Justin Holl, Alexander Kerfoot and Pierre Engvall were involved in trade rumors in the last weeks, and it would make sense if one of them were to leave the team due to the high depth in the Leafs' offense.

What do you think will happen?