Elliotte Friedman reveals Maple Leafs' massive trade ask for Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Elliotte Friedman's Toronto Maple Leafs ask, a 1st and 2nd for Oliver Ekman-Larsson, hit the NHL trade deadline wall and it stung.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is 34, drafted in 2009, Round 1, sixth overall by the Arizona Coyotes.
He is not a rental, and that's the key context.
He's in Year two of a four-year deal that runs through 2027-28 at a $3.5 million cap hit.
Honestly, $3.5 million is barely the factor, it's a clean number for contenders.
The bigger squeeze is term plus control, because he has a 16-team no-trade clause.
Friday came, March 6 was the cutoff, and the Leafs didn't move him.
That's what makes the '1st and 2nd' sound less like a plan and more like a dare.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the Toronto Maple Leafs misread the market
Leafs fans wanted a real shake-up, and instead got that familiar dead-air feeling when the buzzer hits.
On the ice, he fits as a steady second-pair puck mover who can keep exits simple and feed the forwards in stride.
But at that price, teams either balk, or they start demanding retention and extras to offset the risk.
Now the deadline is gone, and Toronto has to live with the choice.
This could still resurface in the summer, when cap space opens, trade taxes drop, and a pick package feels less like a gut punch.
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| POLL | ||
MARS 8|201 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman reveals Maple Leafs' massive trade ask for Oliver Ekman-Larsson Should the Toronto Maple Leafs revisit an Oliver Ekman-Larsson trade this summer? | ||
| Yes | 135 | 67.2 % |
| No | 66 | 32.8 % |
| List of polls | ||