Trades, draft a poor second to free agency to improve Maple Leafs

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As the Maple Leafs grapple with the ebb and flow of free agents on Tuesday, they likely aren’t trading or drafting their way to re-couping any losses in coming days.

Their most marketable players have big contracts, armed with no-movement clauses even if they were approached, and many just arrived here in general manager Brad Treliving’s initial purge of predecessor Kyle Dubas’s roster.

Given the GM’s clarification of his ‘change the DNA’ comment during Thursday’s pre-draft presser — “it’s not about airlifting in 20 new bodies” — the key is what UFAs, two, perhaps three, can be lured with new capital when star winger Mitch Marner walks. Treliving’s coming third year on the job needs to see the team have a deep playoff run.

While there has been a flurry of trades prior to the two-day NHL draft commencing Friday night, the Leafs have been on the sidelines thus far. Treliving was non-committal on seeking a small return for Marner’s rights before July 1, giving a team exclusive negotiating privileges for a few days.

The Athletic reported Thursday that all teams have been reminded by the league about rules on tampering with players before July 1 at the peril of heavy fines and lost draft picks.

“You’re trying to make your team better and the potential is to lose a really good player (Marner),” Treliving said. “The challenge is there, you have to use it as an opportunity as well. You have to see what’s available.”

Unless the Leafs deal to move up and restore their first-round pick, they aren’t due in the order until 64th at the end of Round 2.

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“At 64, we’ll see,” a doubtful -sounding Treliving said. “Our guys (led by amateur scouting director Mark Leach) are well-positioned for looking more at moving down scenarios potentially than moving up.”

While many fans want to see Treliving go after Florida’s Stanley Cup champion winger Brad Marchand, a long-time Leaf nemesis, or other veterans, he has to be prudent.

“You need balance. The league is getting younger. I don’t know if it’s coincidence that a lot of times you don’t see that (Cup) team finish with a lot of rookies. But there’s a lot of things young players can bring to a lineup.”

By the time the draft starts, an extension of the collective bargaining agreement could be tentatively done. It would change many of today’s league procedures; such as lengthening the schedule, contract language, signing bonuses, a salary cap for playoffs, and off ice, an end to team-mandated player dess codes, all to take effect in 2026-27.

If so, that’s more than a year ahead of schedule to head off any lockout fears. Among the coming changes sources told the Associated Press, are an 84-game regular season, up from 82, that will be carved from a shorter pre-season and likely see a better balance of four divisional games, three within the conference and home and home with all non-conference clubs.

The league and players are also moving to close the Long-Term Injured Reserve loophole with a playoff salary cap, whereby teams kept many injured stars or big contracts on the shelf much of the season until activating them at playoffs in good health. Shorter maximum contracts are also being discussed.
Lhornby@postmedia.com

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby