Maple Leafs and the anti-climatic NHL event that is the holiday roster freeze

Remember the good old days when Brian Burke would go on Toronto radio in early December and tell anyone who would listen about how great he was for not trading players in December? Remember how bad those teams were? Anyways, the reality is that Brian Burke is far from the only GM in league history who goes out of their way to minimize movement around the holidays, and with the roster freeze set to take effect at the stroke of midnight on December 20th (meaning end of December 19th) and carrying on until December 27th, it is unlikely that the Leafs will do anything of note.

That said, there’s still a chance of some movement, and the Maple Leafs are a team that could be active. Remember Matt Benning? Toronto still hasn’t found a home for him and for some teams looking at their depth chart, he could be an intriguing option. You could also make the argument that come December 27th, if Conor Timmins and Philippe Myers haven’t made stronger cases for being in the Leafs’ lineup, Benning could be a fit for the Leafs, so perhaps he isn’t in the mix unless some GM is quite sweet on him.

The other option that always looms large and has a cap hit that could result in a quick move is Nick Robertson. While Robertson has looked good on the Domi line in recent games, his level of play throughout his time in Toronto would make him a tough sell for being part of a playoff lineup card. His days appear to be numbered and if stars align quickly today, maybe he’s renting a U-Haul over the holiday break.

There is little likelihood of any bold move coming for the Leafs in the final hours today, so cast your wish list for Santa Treliving into the fire and wait for the Deadline Goblin or Trade Bunny or whatever comes in March instead. With around $663k of cap space (according to PuckPedia) the Leafs would need to make a money-in/money-out deal, and with a full roster at the moment, a player would either have to be on their way out as well. It could happen, but that seems pretty significant for the 11th hour before the holidays. The Blackwood/Georgiev swap and the Kaapo Kakko deal is about as good as it gets for December, and the bar is set at AHL/NHL tweeners moving today.

Speaking of the AHL, the Maple Leafs will still have the ability to make recall transactions from the AHL as needed over the next week and given that the Leafs have three games in four nights, it’s entirely possible they will need Marlies on standby. The Leafs game against the Red Wings on December 27th also falls within the roster freeze window.

It should be noted that Brad Treliving has never made a trade in December during his time as an NHL General Manager and the last Leafs roster freeze move was trading Denis Malgin to the Avalanche for Dryden Hunt on December 19, 2022.