After a start to the NHL’s 2025 free agency period saw the Toronto Maple Leafs trade away star right winger Mitch Marner, Leafs GM Brad Treliving hinted at more moves to come from his team.
“Mitch was a top-six forward, and we haven’t replaced that hole,” Treliving said after Marner was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday. “That’s really where our focus is.”
We’re taking Treliving at his word, and we don’t expect him to make any more notable moves in free agency. So, trades are going to be the route the Maple Leafs make to fill that need, and one trade in particular makes a lot of sense for Toronto, is acquiring veteran center Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames in return for defenseman Morgan Rielly.
Now, before we go any further, let’s be clear – both Kadri and Rielly would have to sign off on this deal to make it happen. Each of them has a no-trade clause, and in Rielly’s case in particular, Flames GM Craig Conroy would have to sell Rielly on coming to Calgary – at least, in the short term.
Why is that? Well, because the smart thing Conroy could do would be flipping Rielly to a playoff-bound team in need of an experienced blueliner who can contribute on offense and eat up 20 minutes a night. That’s probably not the Flames right now, especially after they do what many think they’ll do by trading veteran blueliner Rasmus Andersson. But if Rielly agreed to be moved to Calgary for the time being, with the knowledge that he can direct Conroy as to where to flip him, the deal definitely makes sense for both sides.
Certainly, the money involved in a Kadri/Rielly trade is almost a perfect match. Kadri is signed at $7-million per season for the next four years, while Rielly is signed at $7.5- million per season for the next five years. If the Flames are taking on that extra year of Rielly’s salary, Treliving may have to add another asset to make a deal work for the Flames – something like a second-round draft pick, which the Maple Leafs have in the 2027 and 2028 drafts.
But if that deal goes down, the Leafs change their DNA and add a second-line center, probably moving freshly re-signed pivot John Tavares to the wing. And all of a sudden, the Leafs would have a plethora of centers – Auston Matthews, Kadri, Tavares, new Leaf Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton and David Kampf. That’s more than Toronto needs down the middle, but at that point, Treliving could trade or buy out Kampf, freeing up more money to spend on wingers, or perhaps, on a depth defenseman.
It won’t be easy for the Leafs to turn a position of need into a position of strength, but one trade – albeit a big trade – could do the trick for them in that regard. A reunion with Kadri surely would be welcomed by the former Leaf, and his growth as a competitor and his Cup championship pedigree from his time with the Colorado Avalanche would only help the Buds become a significantly harder team to play against.
Saying goodbye to Rielly – a cornerstone component in Toronto and a terrific human being – would be tough for the Leafs. But the time to act and move on from Rielly is now, and if the Leafs and Calgary can work together on finding him a better work situation, Rielly would be erring if he didn’t accept a trade and get a new lease on life on the ice, the same way Marner has.
If Treliving is able to pull off this deal, don’t say you didn’t see it coming. The fit on Toronto’s end is just about perfect, and the Leafs’ desire to change their makeup would be fulfilled by bringing Kadri back to a place he still considers home.
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