Toronto Maple Leafs Urged to Add Former Norris Winner This Offseason by Analysts

After making some good additions last summer, it was the same old result this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and with two massive free agency decisions to make in their forward group, this roster could look very different in 2025/26 with plenty of salary cap space to work with.

While most of those changes will come in the forward group, with reports the team could look to replace Mitch Marner and/or John Tavares with some combination of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews or others, but now, there could be changes on their blue line as well.

According to one analyst with The Leafs Nation, the team should look to pursue 40-year old defenseman Brent Burns, who could not only give them some offensive firepower, but the grit needed to win in the big moments.

Sure, at 40-years of age, it's a massive risk to pursue someone like Burns, but in 2024/25 he posted 29 points while playing 82 games for the fourth straight season (as well as the ninth time in the past 11 years), and with a +45 in his three seasons with the Hurricanes, he's showed that he's still capable of being a top defenseman in the NHL.

With Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo and Oliver Ekman-Larsson all on the Maple Leafs right side, it's unclear exactly how they'd want to play things, but if they could convince the Barrie native to come home and join the team, it would give their Stanley Cup hopes a significant boost, and while it may be tough to convince him to leave Carolina, the chance to play at home one time in his career could be a major lure for Toronto.