Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 Potential Trade Partners to Improve the Blueline

Nashville Predators

The Predators have a model franchise for drafting and developing defencemen like; Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Roman Josi, Dan Hamhuis, Cody Franson, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm, and Seth Jones. However, they have been unable to match the upfront with what they have on blueline.

Luckily for Nashville, the Leafs have talent upfront that could be appealing to them. They will need to make some decisions with the expansion draft coming up on who they want to protect. This is part of the reason why they traded Jones for Ryan Johansen, because they did not want a scenario where they had to choose a defenceman to expose.

The rules of the expansion draft state that a team can either protect seven forwards, three defencemen and one goaltender or eight skaters (forwards/defencemen) and one goaltender. With the number of defencemen Nashville would want to protect, it is safe to assume they would want to go with the second option.

P.K. Subban, Josi, Ellis, Ekholm, and Anthony Bitetto are likely candidates to be protected, which means only three forwards and one goalie can be protected in that scenario. Filip Forsberg, Johansen and James Neal could be the three players the Predators choose to protect, along with Pekka Rinne. This would mean that Colin Wilson, Craig Smith, and Kevin Fiala would be prime targets for the expansion draft.

Neal is a UFA after next season but has to be protected, because he has a no-trade clause. This will be a tough call for the Predators to make, especially if he chooses not to return.

This could be an easier decision if Nashville decides to move a defencemen for an asset in return. This is where the Leafs could try to make a trade by moving a forward prospect that does not have to be protected along with draft picks, in order to acquire a defenceman from Nashville.

The Predators will likely want to keep Subban, Josi, Ellis and Ekholm together, but it all depends on who they want to keep upfront. If either Ellis of Ekholm become available, the Leafs should be inquiring about them.