Toronto Maple Leafs Show Stellar Asset Management With Nicolas Roy Trade

The Toronto Maple Leafs began selling ahead of the NHL's March 6 trade deadline.

They sent center Nicolas Roy to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday in exchange for a conditional first-round draft pick in 2027 and a conditional fifth-round pick this year. If the first-rounder lands in the top 10, Colorado would instead send an unprotected 2028 first-rounder to the Leafs. The fifth-rounder is the lowest of the three fifth-rounders the Avs have this year.

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving has done well to convert an asset he acquired in the Mitch Marner trade with the Vegas Golden Knights into a first-rounder as well as another pick.

This Roy swap is for a player who didn't get sat out with three others Wednesday night in Toronto's game against the New Jersey Devils, so that tells you the Leafs are fully open for business when it comes to trading virtually all their players by Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.

The Avalanche clearly saw value in Roy, who is under contract through next season at a very reasonable $3-million cap hit. They wanted a third-line center to play behind Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson down the middle, and Roy is an excellent fit as a two-way player who provides depth scoring.

Although the Maple Leafs weren't disappointed in Roy, the reality is that he has only 15 assists and 20 points in 59 games, a drop in production from what he did with Vegas. So taking him off Toronto's roster isn't going to move the needle one way or another.

And now, the Leafs have two first-round picks in the next three drafts, making their long-term outlook considerably better than it was prior to the Roy trade.

If Treliving was able to get a first-rounder for a secondary player in Roy, you have to imagine that a better trade asset for the Buds – defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who did sit out against the Devils – is going to get the Leafs at least another first-rounder. And when that happens, the Leafs will suddenly have at least three first-round picks in the next three drafts. That's exactly what they need at this point in their competitive cycle.

The Leafs aren't totally giving up on their future, as they're obviously taking the retool-on-the-fly approach we've seen from the Boston Bruins last season and this year. But it was crystal clear that this mix of mostly veterans and a handful of young players wasn't getting the job done for Toronto.

So the Roy deal was the first shot across the bow for Treliving & Co., which told the rest of the league the Maple Leafs are fully prepared to move just about any player for the right price.

And moving the asset they got in the Marner trade makes that move much easier to swallow for Leafs fans. As a reminder, Marner was going to leave the Maple Leafs no matter what, but the trade allowed the Golden Knights to have Marner on an eight-year contract instead of seven years.

Roy was a solid citizen in his short time in Leafs Land. But in the end, the Buds' struggles meant that there were few untouchables on the roster. And dealing Roy is very likely the first move in what will be a very eventful trade deadline for the Maple Leafs.

The Roy trade is stellar asset management for Toronto. And Leafs fans should be pleased that Treliving is beginning the process of competitive renewal for his franchise. It felt as recent as the beginning of this week like they could have bought some players at the deadline to have beyond this season, but not even winning once since the Olympic break says it all at this point.
The Buds won't be better after this Roy deal, but they should be better in the long haul, and that's all that should matter to Maple Leafs supporters.

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