If you were looking for signs of life from Brad Treliving at the trade deadline, it happened this season. And while the neither of his acquisitions might have been overly flashy, this was his most productive deadline since acquiring Tyler Toffoli in Calgary, and he managed to avoid rental players in the process. Easton Cowan is still in the organization too. As is Ben Danford. First round picks… well, they are going to be pretty close to second-round picks anyway. As much as this post is filled with reactions before seeing the impact on ice for the Leafs, the day was pretty encouraging even if it was by no means flawless.

There is a mix of good and bad with the acquisition of Scott Laughton. He’s absolutely capable as a third-line centre. He’s more capable than Max Domi or David Kampf. He fits what Brad Treliving and Craig Berube want in the lineup and getting 50 percent retention on a player that is under contract for another year isn’t nothing. Laughton will easily provide value as a $1.5M cap hit for the Leafs.

Now, where the deal is ultimately a miss for me: paying a first and Nikita Grebenkin is a lot for a bottom-six player and while giving up assets to win now is the name of the game, it probably would have made sense to give up a bit more to move the bar a lot more.

The move is timid in a year when the Leafs should be pushing in all their chips. Instead, they are recreating the Nick Foligno trade in 2025. (I know the extra year, Laughton’s health, and cap hit make it better, but this is a miss in the short term of upgrading for the playoffs.)

The Leafs once again needed to find the ideal fit for playing with Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo is that. A 6-foot-6 right shot that enables Rielly to play like Rielly is huge. Having the opportunity to push Oliver Ekman-Larsson back into his ideal role as the 5th defenceman is a huge win for the Maple Leafs. The Leafs blueline looks like what Leafs fans have been demanding for years and now begins the challenge of getting themselves ready for the playoffs.

Once again, the price was high. Brad Treliving was paying steep prices and what the Bruins system can develop Fraser Minten into will give a lot of hindsight consideration to a deal that was right to make in the moment. Will the Leafs miss Minten? Yes. Will the Leafs ever draft in the first round again? Honestly, I hope not because that means they are constantly making the most out of an already strong roster. The 15 percent salary retention eases the burden a bit, and Brandon Carlo at $3.485M for two years after this one is a green light for the Leafs to start going bigger on forwards in free agency.

Carlo coming in with term and the Leafs having commitments to their top five defencemen is some nice stability and provides a safe testing ground for prospects like Danford and Topi Niemela as well. It means that the Leafs have the luxury of finding the best fit out of Simon Benoit, Jani Hakanpaa, and Philippe Myers in the lineup now, and with a number of moveable contracts on the backend, Toronto can also trade defensive assets if their prospects develop.

All that’s nice but really this is about a 6-foot-6 tank who is typically good for a blocked shot and crushing hit every game is the message the Leafs want to send in the playoffs. Toronto has gotten better at hitting but now they are armed with numerous guys who hit to hurt and are capable of getting back in position. There is no reason for them to be considered easy to play against in the post season.

It’s hard to complain about this as taking Conor Timmins out of the equation for the 6th spot on the Leafs blueline any given night is a step in the right direction. Timmins has been riding the wave of a strong training camp far too long this season and while he could be a good sheltered option on a team looking for a second unit power play quarterback (I don’t see how that’s Pittsburgh), he is not a fit on the Leafs and with Carlo coming in there was very little chance that Timmins was going to see much playing time.

As for Dewar, he’ll be missed a bit more as he does bring good energy to the fourth line and is a capable penalty killer. There is something to be said for the Leafs giving up a fourth for him last year only to send him out for a fifth round pick this season, but you could also say that packaging him with Timmins and clearing salary more than explains the drop in value.

A fifth round pick seems pretty helpful for the Leafs who at least have six draft picks this season, even though a first isn’t one of them. In a year with an underwhelming high end the Leafs can focus on diamonds in the rough.

Nothing the Leafs did was spectacular and a high price was paid. On the other hand a lot of risk was mitigated by getting both Laughton and Carlo at reduced cap hits and both carrying term. The Leafs might not feel overloaded like the Panthers but they addressed their roster holes and preserved some depth even while dealing Dewar, Timmins, Minten, and Grebenkin.

Toronto still has Matt Benning that they can attempt to lean on, but Brad Treliving has shown trust in Marshall Rifai and Dakota Mermis as call-ups even before getting to Benning, Niemela, and Mikko Kokkonen on the point.

Up front, I hope the Leafs will commit to keeping Ryan Reaves with the Marlies for the time being as seeing more of what Alex Steeves and Jacob Quillan can do seems like a great way of testing their forward depth. Calle Jarnkrok’s return was already creating some competition in the bottom six, but another look at what Alex Nylander can do might also be fun, especially if Toronto looks to rest some players prior to the playoffs.

That last suggestion of resting players is one that I normally encourage, but this season will be a dogfight for first in the Atlantic Division, and that is a real prize when you considering that with the Leafs, Panthers, and Lightning all loaded up, the reality is two of those teams will be facing each other and a first round departure is guaranteed for at least one of the top three teams in the Atlantic. Toronto not putting themselves in that position would be a luxury worth pursuing at the cost of avoiding load management.