It’s shaping up to be the most important trade deadline for the Toronto Maple Leafs, so we’re revisiting the past for any lessons that Brad Treliving and his staff can adhere to ahead of Friday.

Toronto is currently holding a narrow one-point lead over the Florida Panthers in the Atlantic Division prior to Monday’s games, with a game in hand. Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Matthew Knies are all pending free agents, and this could be the final stand for a core group that has been effectively solidified since July 2018, when Tavares signed a seven-year pact with the Maple Leafs.

It was a different management group in place, so there aren’t always direct parallels from Kyle Dubas to Treliving’s running of the team, but history often provides answers, and here’s what the Leafs can learn from their 2022 NHL Trade Deadline.

Toronto’s greatest need this spring is a third-line centre with some scoring punch and versatility, but its second-greatest need is finding a depth defenceman. Chris Tanev is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and he’s been integral to the Maple Leafs’ pragmatic, north-south structure this season. David Savard and Mario Ferraro are among the defencemen often rumoured as potential targets to the Maple Leafs, but they would likely be assigned a price that may be untenable for many to stomach.

During the 2022 trade deadline, Toronto acquired Ilya Lyubushkin and Ryan Dzingel from the Arizona Coyotes (now, the Utah Hockey Club) in exchange for Nick Ritchie and a 2025 conditional second-round pick. Toronto immediately waived Dzingel, so the trade ultimately amounted to Lyubushkin for Ritchie and a conditional second-rounder. Lyubushkin was a useful player for Toronto, getting some minutes with Morgan Rielly, but he wasn’t a clear difference-maker, the Maple Leafs were eliminated in seven hard-fought games by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he left in free agency to the Buffalo Sabres, before being reacquired by the Maple Leafs in February 2024.

Acquiring a depth defender is always something fans want, and it’s a great insurance policy, but ultimately, it may prove to be costly. This should be kept in mind, if the Leafs emerge with an underwhelming return on paper.

Toronto is the largest hockey market in the world and there are several players across the league that would love to return home, if the circumstances allowed it. It can be a non-starter for stars in the prime of their career, as they can maximize their earnings elsewhere, but it’s not a prohibitive notion, as we learned with Tavares during the summer of 2018. Toronto leaned into this angle when it acquired Mark Giordano, along with Colin Blackwell from the Seattle Kraken, in exchange for a hefty sum which included 2022 and 2023 2nd-round picks, and a 2024 third-round pick.

Giordano was excellent for his first season and a half with the Maple Leafs, before his form took a precipitous dive during the 2023-24 campaign. He was a veteran leader, who allowed Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren play some of the best hockey of their careers, he took accountability and was always convivial, he fought for his teammates and provided a winning culture to a team that often would get in their own way. If there’s a defenceman showing signs of age-related decline (we’re looking at you, Brent Burns) that would want to come home, it may cost a few draft picks, but for a win-now Maple Leafs team, that should be a relative non-factor.

The notion of helping a contending Leafs team win their first Stanley Cup since 1967 is an alluring possibility, and it could be helpful in attractive some key depth. If Burns isn’t available, and he isn’t expected to be, a depth add like Brendan Smith could be a move, reuniting him with his minor hockey teammate Tavares, and several other friends in the locker room. Jamie Oleksiak would be a prime target, but again, the sticker shock and finding a way to reasonably match salary are the obstacles.