Toronto Maple Leafs' Best Trade Of The Past Year

The Toronto Maple Leafs have completed 12 trades over the past year and have been one of the busiest teams in the NHL over that time. They made many moves last offseason as well as the days leading up to the trade deadline. As the entire goal is to advance deep into the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup, their focus has been to build a playoff contender and not just a regular season contender. As the team has now qualified for seven consecutive postseasons, that hasn't been a concern.

The Maple Leafs have done a good job getting grittier and harder to play against at both ends of the ice. Their most important trades have come closer to this past trade deadline as the two trades in question brought in multiple NHL players to contribute this season.

The first was the acquisition of Ryan O'Reilly (75% retained) and Noel Acciari that cost the Maple Leafs a first, second, third, and fourth round pick along with prospect Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette. While O'Reilly got injured and is likely out until playoffs after a short time in the lineup, Acciari has just three goals in 17 games and is now also injured, considered day-to-day. O'Reilly's presence in the lineup gives the Maple Leafs an option at third line center or on the second line, but he was very inconsistent in his short time playing, scoring three goals and five points in his first three games before going pointless in his next five. Both are UFAs at the end of the season.

The other trade saw Jake McCabe (50% retained), Sam Lafferty, and two future fifth round picks acquired in exchange for a future first and second round pick along with Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev. Considering McCabe, a top-four physical and defensive d-man, is under contract for two more years at $2 million and Lafferty is signed through next season, this is a deal that didn't cost a whole lot and is very beneficial to the team for not only this season if the Maple Leafs fail to execute in the playoffs.