The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to be active at the 2025 Trade Deadline as they try to push for their first Stanley Cup since 1967. They made some strong moves before the 2024-25 campaign in hopes of making a deep playoff run and it seems as though they are ready to finally bring a championship back to Toronto. After bolstering their defensive depth with the additions of Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, as well as bringing in goaltender Anthony Stolarz to stabilize their depth between the pipes, they seem like they have a deep enough roster to be considered contenders at this point in the season.
Another player they could look to bring in to bolster their depth at forward is Edmonton Oilers’ Evander Kane, who has recently found himself in the rumour mill as he attempts to find his way back to the NHL after dealing with several injuries that have kept him out for the entirety of the 2024-25 season so far. It’s clear he wants to play before the playoffs, which makes it impossible for the Oilers to utilize any cap relief they receive from his contract being placed on long-term injured reserve, so the Maple Leafs should try to bring him in for the right price.
Kane, who is 33 years old, was drafted 4th overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Throughout his NHL career, he has scored 326 goals and added 291 assists for 617 points through 930 games which comes out to a 0.66 points-per-game average. He has a $5.125 million cap hit and is under contract through the 2025-26 season and while the Maple Leafs don’t have the cap space to bring on his entire contract at the 2025 Trade Deadline, they could pay a bit more to have the Oilers retain some of his remaining salary.
What Would a Trade Look Like?
As mentioned, the Maple Leafs may try to convince the Oilers to retain some of Kane’s salary to make a deal work. With that, they still may have to clear out some more money to make a trade possible. Realistically, they could trade Ryan Reaves to a rebuilding team or dump him to a contending team that wants to add physicality to their bottom-six forward group, and then build on the Kane trade after that. Trading Reaves also gets rid of any potential bad blood between him and Kane that may still linger from several seasons ago.
The Maple Leafs could trade a mid-round pick and a prospect, like Fraser Minten, to the Oilers in exchange for Kane if they were willing to retain 50% of Kane’s salary. The Oilers wouldn’t be looking to make a hockey trade in this situation considering they need to clear up cap space to be able to spend at the deadline, so bringing in a draft pick and a player like Minten to bolster their prospect pool makes perfect sense while it gives the Maple Leafs some much-needed depth in their bottom-six.
There hasn’t been much movement in terms of the Maple Leafs trying to get a trade done recently, but things should pick up over the next few days. With the trade deadline coming on Friday (March. 7), teams will be trying to free up as much money as possible so that they can bolster their rosters as much as they can in hopes of winning a Stanley Cup. Kane, who is still fighting to return from several injuries, could be a welcomed addition to the Maple Leafs as they try to end their long championship drought.
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