<p>Welcome back to another segment of our <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/trade-targets-3-seattle-kraken-trade-candidates-for-maple-leafs">2025 Trade Targets series</a>, as we make way to the windy city to check in on potential trade candidates from the Chicago Blackhawks.</p>
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<p>The Blackhawks and Maple Leafs have done business together within the past couple of seasons, as former GM Kyle Dubas shipped the 2025 first-round pick and 2026 second-round pick to the Blackhawks for Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty. Brad Treliving has stepped in since and extended McCabe on a long-term deal, meanwhile, shipped Lafferty out west shortly after taking the GM job.</p>
<p>This season, the Blackhawks are once at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, as unfortunately for their fanbase, Connor Bedard and company haven&#8217;t been able to take a giant step forward into playoff contention. After moving Taylor Hall to Carolina in the three-team blockbuster a couple of weeks ago, GM Kyle Davidson is likely to continue to sell ahead of the trade deadline on March 7. Here&#8217;s who could potentially interest Treliving and the Maple Leafs:</p>
<h2>Ryan Donato</h2>
<p>Donato is the Blackhawks&#8217; best trade chip, especially among their rentals. He&#8217;s only making $2 million AAV against the cap, he doesn&#8217;t have any trade protection, and he entered the 4-Nations Face-Off break with 19 goals and 37 points, in 53 games.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old centre doesn&#8217;t have a big frame at just 6 feet, however, he&#8217;s not afraid to throw his body around, landing 89 hits to this point. Donato&#8217;s had great success finding the back of the net so far this season, thanks to his shot selection. He&#8217;s currently shooting at an impressive 15.3% efficiency, and if the Leafs are in the market for adding more offence before the deadline, Donato could be an option. If they are looking for a lock-down defensive-minded centre, they may want to consider another avenue.</p>
<p>Donato&#8217;s bounced around since he was originally a 2014 second-round pick, playing for five teams throughout his eight-year NHL career. This season he&#8217;s riding high, enjoying a career-best year to this point, while playing the most he&#8217;s ever played at 15:02 of ice time per game.</p>
<p>Recently, <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/around-the-nhl-blackhawks-donato-linked-to-canadian-teams-canucks-hughes-to-miss-4-nations-islanders-barzal-out-6-weeks">Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman reported</a> that Donato was drawing trade interest from Canadian teams, however, didn&#8217;t list the Maple Leafs directly. The issue here is the asking price, it&#8217;s not cap hit. At $2 million Donato is very affordable, but with him garnering serious interest from a handful of contending teams, Davidson and the Blackhawks&#8217; brass will drive up the asking price. If Davidson would consider an NHL-ready prospect and a 2025 third-rounder, perhaps there&#8217;s some business to complete. As far as fit in Toronto goes, it&#8217;s not perfect, that&#8217;s for sure. Donato doesn&#8217;t kill penalties, he hasn&#8217;t scored in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games, so there would certainly be a level of risk involved here, banking on him continuing to stay hot in blue and white.</p>
<h2>Pat Maroon</h2>
<p>If the Maple Leafs want some more Stanley Cup Playoff experience in the dressing room for the home stretch of the season, Maroon could be ripe for the taking. The 36-year-old &#8216;Big Rig&#8217; is a pending free agent making $1.3 million against the cap, and so far in 49 games, Maroon has scored three goals, 13 points, and has landed 80 hits.</p>
<p>Toronto&#8217;s had a very inconsistent bottom-six this season, and frankly, they don&#8217;t have much identity, so adding Maroon gives the Leafs more size and strength among their depth options. It&#8217;s worth noting that Maroon, who won three Stanley Cups in a row, won his first one under Craig Berube in St. Louis, when he averaged 12:20 of ice-time in their Cup run, including causing havoc in front of the net on the Blues&#8217; second power-play unit.</p>
<p>Maroon won&#8217;t be at the top of the Leafs&#8217; trade wish list, but when it comes to adding character, a proven winner, and some more toughness for the playoffs, he&#8217;s a great candidate to consider. It&#8217;s all going to come down to how much Treliving values the likes of Connor Dewar and Pontus Holmberg, and if the Leafs&#8217; GM would like a different look, Maroon is that and then some.</p>
<h2>Connor Murphy</h2>
<p>While the Maple Leafs have been linked to the centre trade market for most of the season, there&#8217;s a sense that Treliving will look to upgrade his blueline, and if he does so, I&#8217;m expecting a right-handed shooting blueliner to be acquired. Murphy could be an option in Chicago, but admittedly, a bit of an expensive one for the value.</p>
<p>The 31-year-old is owed $4.4 million AAV through next season and posted 13 points in 42 games. He&#8217;s been a huge part of the Blackhawks&#8217; penalty kill, which ranks an impressive seventh in the NHL. Murphy has great size at 6&#8217;4, 212 pounds, and it feels like if he ends up in Toronto, a big reason why is because Davidson was open to retaining salary, which he&#8217;s done multiple times in the past, including $4.6 million of Rantanen&#8217;s contract, and he&#8217;s never played a game in Chicago.</p>
<p>Murphy&#8217;s an upgrade on Timmins and Myers, he&#8217;s just a bit of a flight risk, with a long list of injury troubles, and spending a decade playing on bad teams in Chicago, resulting in only nine Stanley Cup Playoff games under his belt since 2013-14. Murphy is a keep-it-simple type of defenceman, and with over 700 games of NHL experience, is quite predictable as far as knowing what you&#8217;re getting on a nightly basis. There&#8217;s not much flashy to his game, which could appeal to Treliving, Berube and company. Like most trades, it&#8217;s just going to come down to asking price, and how much salary Davidson is willing to eat.</p>
<p>As far as ideal trade partners go, the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs don&#8217;t necessarily jump off the page. Donato is a very affordable option if Treliving wants to add secondary scoring, but we&#8217;ll have to wait and see how high the asking price goes. Maroon gives your fourth line some identity and presence, meanwhile, Murphy&#8217;s a depth option on the back end, which carries a hefty price tag. Treliving has some decisions to make before early March, and if he&#8217;s browsing the Blackhawks&#8217; trade options, he may not necessarily like what he sees.</p>
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Welcome back to another segment of our <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/trade-targets-3-seattle-kraken-trade-candidates-for-maple-leafs">2025 Trade Targets series</a>, as we make way to the windy city to check in on potential trade candidates from the Chicago Blackhawks.
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The Blackhawks and Maple Leafs have done business together within the past couple of seasons, as former GM Kyle Dubas shipped the 2025 first-round pick and 2026 second-round pick to the Blackhawks for Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty. Brad Treliving has stepped in since and extended McCabe on a long-term deal, meanwhile, shipped Lafferty out west shortly after taking the GM job.

This season, the Blackhawks are once at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, as unfortunately for their fanbase, Connor Bedard and company haven't been able to take a giant step forward into playoff contention. After moving Taylor Hall to Carolina in the three-team blockbuster a couple of weeks ago, GM Kyle Davidson is likely to continue to sell ahead of the trade deadline on March 7. Here's who could potentially interest Treliving and the Maple Leafs:
<h2>Ryan Donato</h2>
Donato is the Blackhawks' best trade chip, especially among their rentals. He's only making $2 million AAV against the cap, he doesn't have any trade protection, and he entered the 4-Nations Face-Off break with 19 goals and 37 points, in 53 games.

The 28-year-old centre doesn't have a big frame at just 6 feet, however, he's not afraid to throw his body around, landing 89 hits to this point. Donato's had great success finding the back of the net so far this season, thanks to his shot selection. He's currently shooting at an impressive 15.3% efficiency, and if the Leafs are in the market for adding more offence before the deadline, Donato could be an option. If they are looking for a lock-down defensive-minded centre, they may want to consider another avenue.

Donato's bounced around since he was originally a 2014 second-round pick, playing for five teams throughout his eight-year NHL career. This season he's riding high, enjoying a career-best year to this point, while playing the most he's ever played at 15:02 of ice time per game.

Recently, <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/around-the-nhl-blackhawks-donato-linked-to-canadian-teams-canucks-hughes-to-miss-4-nations-islanders-barzal-out-6-weeks">Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported</a> that Donato was drawing trade interest from Canadian teams, however, didn't list the Maple Leafs directly. The issue here is the asking price, it's not cap hit. At $2 million Donato is very affordable, but with him garnering serious interest from a handful of contending teams, Davidson and the Blackhawks' brass will drive up the asking price. If Davidson would consider an NHL-ready prospect and a 2025 third-rounder, perhaps there's some business to complete. As far as fit in Toronto goes, it's not perfect, that's for sure. Donato doesn't kill penalties, he hasn't scored in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games, so there would certainly be a level of risk involved here, banking on him continuing to stay hot in blue and white.
<h2>Pat Maroon</h2>
If the Maple Leafs want some more Stanley Cup Playoff experience in the dressing room for the home stretch of the season, Maroon could be ripe for the taking. The 36-year-old 'Big Rig' is a pending free agent making $1.3 million against the cap, and so far in 49 games, Maroon has scored three goals, 13 points, and has landed 80 hits.

Toronto's had a very inconsistent bottom-six this season, and frankly, they don't have much identity, so adding Maroon gives the Leafs more size and strength among their depth options. It's worth noting that Maroon, who won three Stanley Cups in a row, won his first one under Craig Berube in St. Louis, when he averaged 12:20 of ice-time in their Cup run, including causing havoc in front of the net on the Blues' second power-play unit.

Maroon won't be at the top of the Leafs' trade wish list, but when it comes to adding character, a proven winner, and some more toughness for the playoffs, he's a great candidate to consider. It's all going to come down to how much Treliving values the likes of Connor Dewar and Pontus Holmberg, and if the Leafs' GM would like a different look, Maroon is that and then some.
<h2>Connor Murphy</h2>
While the Maple Leafs have been linked to the centre trade market for most of the season, there's a sense that Treliving will look to upgrade his blueline, and if he does so, I'm expecting a right-handed shooting blueliner to be acquired. Murphy could be an option in Chicago, but admittedly, a bit of an expensive one for the value.

The 31-year-old is owed $4.4 million AAV through next season and posted 13 points in 42 games. He's been a huge part of the Blackhawks' penalty kill, which ranks an impressive seventh in the NHL. Murphy has great size at 6'4, 212 pounds, and it feels like if he ends up in Toronto, a big reason why is because Davidson was open to retaining salary, which he's done multiple times in the past, including $4.6 million of Rantanen's contract, and he's never played a game in Chicago.

Murphy's an upgrade on Timmins and Myers, he's just a bit of a flight risk, with a long list of injury troubles, and spending a decade playing on bad teams in Chicago, resulting in only nine Stanley Cup Playoff games under his belt since 2013-14. Murphy is a keep-it-simple type of defenceman, and with over 700 games of NHL experience, is quite predictable as far as knowing what you're getting on a nightly basis. There's not much flashy to his game, which could appeal to Treliving, Berube and company. Like most trades, it's just going to come down to asking price, and how much salary Davidson is willing to eat.

As far as ideal trade partners go, the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs don't necessarily jump off the page. Donato is a very affordable option if Treliving wants to add secondary scoring, but we'll have to wait and see how high the asking price goes. Maroon gives your fourth line some identity and presence, meanwhile, Murphy's a depth option on the back end, which carries a hefty price tag. Treliving has some decisions to make before early March, and if he's browsing the Blackhawks' trade options, he may not necessarily like what he sees.

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Trade Targets: 3 Chicago Blackhawks trade candidates for Maple Leafs

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