Maple Leafs Rumors: Team Trying To Move 28th Overall Pick

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not sitting idle and are looking to make moves ahead of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. It has been reported by David Pagnotta that the team is shopping the 28th overall pick for immediate help. This comes with the notion that players like Michael Bunting, Ryan O'Reilly, and Alex Kerfoot are all headed to free agency.

Those are three pretty impactful contributors the Maple Leafs are losing as the trend of not being able to keep those types of players around continues. The first round pick this year is very likely being dangled to teams that have cheap options with a couple years left for them to add on the wing. As of now, we have to assume that Auston Matthews and John Tavares are going to be here for two more seasons, so the center of the ice is covered.

There are a number of options out there as the offseason provides a great place for retained salary trades and a lot of movement by teams. Players who are already underpaid could become very cheap to the Maple Leafs just as Jake McCabe was. It makes a lot of sense for Toronto to be looking to utilize any draft capital they have because their window to win might be closing sooner than later. They are in win-now mode and a late first rounder will not contribute to the success of their team for a few years yet.