Maple Leafs reportedly interested in trading for Rangers’ top center
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have an interesting summer no matter what and that might include acquiring a center from the New York Rangers looking for a fresh start.
According to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, the Rangers might continue dealing their veterans away even after trading Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks last week. This is a team in transition that is desperately attempting to quickly turn the whole trajectory of the team around without disrupting the group of young players they have slowly acquired. It’s a tricky move, and it might include parting ways with someone so rooted to that team, like center Mika Zibanejad.
According to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, the Rangers might continue dealing their veterans away even after trading Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks last week. This is a team in transition that is desperately attempting to quickly turn the whole trajectory of the team around without disrupting the group of young players they have slowly acquired. It’s a tricky move, and it might include parting ways with someone so rooted to that team, like center Mika Zibanejad.
And the Maple Leafs could be a team that is definitely interested in acquiring the center, according to the report.
“”There’s a chance that Drury has already worked it out with Zibanejad, who has five years at a $8.5 million average annual value remaining plus a full no-move clause, that moving on would be best,” wrote Staple before suggesting the Leafs as a potential target. “They’d still need to find a fit -the Leafs might have some interest and some space to
After his stellar 39-goal, 91-point campaign back in the 2022-23 season, Zibanejad has been slowly getting less and less productive. Just this season, he scored almost half of what he did during that career year, with just 20 goals and earned a total of 62 points. The Rangers were not a great hockey team, but to get that little amount of production in 81 games from your top center is probably not a good sign for what is to come for the next five years, if he were to stay in New York.
If the Maple Leafs were to make this move, what would they have to give up? Toronto has very little in terms of actual trade assets after going all-in on this past trade deadline and sending out first-round picks for Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo. And for prospects, it really is just winger Easton Cowan and defenseman Ben Danford and then a whole lot of question marks. They’re not dealing from a position of strength.
Considering Zibanejad’s potential decline and his bulky contract with restrictive clauses, the Rangers might just want to take whatever they can get for him. It’s not too long ago that they dealt Jacob Trouba for a depth defenseman and a fourth-round pick. And just last week, Kreider was dealt for a mid-tier prospect in Carey Terrance and essentially a draft pick swap.
To acquire Zibanejad, it should take more than those packages but probably not much more as the Rangers continue to shed their veteran core.
Overall, it might be a better bet than what we expect to see on its face. Zibanejad might not be what he once was, but now he gets to play under Auston Matthews and have less of a spotlight on him, with the expectation to bring it every single night as the top centerman. Could do a whole lot worse.
