Surprise! Toronto Makes No Trades on Deadline Day

Well, this was unexpected. Despite having a number of assets expected to move, the Maple Leafs failed to complete any sort of trade before the 3:00 pm deadline. That means pending free agent P.A. Parenteau and demoted defender Jared Cowen are still in Toronto.

It’s hard to believe that with Parenteau in particular that no deal could be consummated. It was a forgone conclusion that when Parenteau signed his one-year, $1.5M deal last offseason that he’d be moved to a contender at the deadline for an asset. Instead, he sticks around a little longer and I’d say there’s actually a decent chance he signs an extension at some point. 

Maybe Toronto’s reported asking price of a second-round pick was too high, though the New Jersey Devils got a second and fourth-round pick for Lee Stempniak from Boston and Anaheim traded a third-round pick to Buffalo for Jamie McGinn, so I’m not convinced that the Leafs’ demands were unreasonable. It’s certainly possible Toronto did receive some weak offers but decided against moving Parenteau in the end. After all, they still need bodies for the remainder of the season.

It might simply have more to do with the fact that there just weren’t a lot of buyers today. Boston, Colorado and Anaheim all made multiple moves, but most of the league stood pat and chose to retain their picks and prospects. 

That said, let’s not forget that Toronto did a massive amount of work this month to move out veterans and contracts and continue to load up the coffers with picks and prospects. Let’s break it down…

Toronto Traded: Dion Phaneuf, James Reimer, Roman Polak, Daniel Winnik, Shawn Matthias, Nick Spaling, Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey, Jeremy Morin, Ryan Rupert, Cody Donaghey and a 2016 fifth-round pick

Toronto Received: Brooks Laich, Jared Cowen, Colin Greening, Milan Michalek, Alex Stalock, Ben Smith, Raffi Torres, Connor Carrick, Tobias Lindberg, Colin Smith, a 2016 second-round pick, two 2017 second-round picks, a 2018 second-round pick, and 2016 fourth-round pick and a conditional 2018 fourth-round pick.

That’s a pretty significant haul, even without any deals today. Stalock, Ben Smith and Torres come off the books this coming offseason, while Laich, Greening, Michalek and Cowen will stick around for one more season (barring offseason deals or buyouts). Most importantly, Toronto added three prospects and five early to mid-round draft picks this month.

All in all, you have to be pretty happy with the Leafs and their front office, no?