NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs Turned Down Marc-Andre Fleury Blockbuster

According to several reports, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks were discussing a blockbuster trade over the course of the last few weeks. The deal involved the likes of veteran netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and forward Brandon Hagel heading to the Maple Leafs and a huge package including elite prospect Matthew Knies heading the other way.

Toronto sees promise in Woll and Kallgren and most definitely, Jack Campbell. It was a massive ask on the futures and potentially a portion of those futures can be used on shoring up Toronto’s D. Turns out…Chicago got a huge return for Hagel from Tampa Bay.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 19, 2022

As Darren Dreger of TSN reported, the two sides discussed the move but ultimately Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas did not want to part with so much of his future. Knies is a top prospect out of the NCAA who has top-six potential, meanwhile Chicago wanted multiple first-round picks. A price to steep for the Maple Leafs and Hagel ended up heading to Tampa Bay while the likes of Fleury and Petr Mrazek stand pat with their current teams.

The Maple Leafs are looking for an affordable goaltending option along with some depth on defense and seem open to any deal that will create the team some cap space moving forward. The Blackhawks on the other hand are talking trade on just about all their players, including potentially some legends like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. It feels like if they don't get moved before Monday's deadline, the entire team will be blown up during the summer.

Going to be an interesting 48 hours in both of these markets. If you're a fan of either team, get your popcorn ready and expect the unexpected.