The Maple Leafs have spent the offseason loading up on defensemen, and that crowding on the blue line may end up squeezing Oliver Ekman-Larsson before anything happens with Morgan Rielly.
Toronto’s recent additions have given the club more depth options than it needs in some spots, and that has created a real logjam. Rielly’s future is still unsettled after he gave the Maple Leafs four Western Conference teams he would accept in a trade, but no deal has materialized. For now, management is still looking for the right fit instead of simply choosing to move someone else.
That’s where Ekman-Larsson enters the picture. He could be the player nudged into a smaller role, or possibly the one moved out if Toronto decides that’s the cleanest way to balance the roster.
The biggest shakeup came with the sign-and-trade for right-shot defenseman Darren Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning. His arrival changes the look of Toronto’s back end in a hurry.
Raddysh posted 70 points and 10 power-play goals, and he is expected to run the first unit on the man advantage for the Maple Leafs. That alone could cut into the opportunities for both Rielly and Ekman-Larsson, who are each left-shot defensemen capable of moving the puck.
Raddysh also brings a legitimate weapon from the blue line. His shot and puck-moving ability give Toronto something it can lean on, and the projected pairings show how the pieces might fit: Raddysh with Jake McCabe, Rielly alongside Chris Tanev, and Ekman-Larsson on the third pair with Emil Andrae. Those combinations are not locked in, but they make one thing clear - keeping Rielly does not automatically send OEL out of the lineup.
The problem is that both players are useful, and neither one fits neatly if the Leafs are trying to keep everyone in a role that matches his salary. Toronto has a roster full of similar types now: solid puck movers, older players, and a defense group that could use clearer separation between shutdown jobs, puck-moving duties, and special teams work.
If the Leafs decide to trade one of them, the contract details matter. Ekman-Larsson is the easier piece to move on paper.
He carries a $3.5-million cap hit through 2027-28 and has a 16-team no-trade list. Rielly is on the books at $7.5 million through 2029-30, and his no-movement protection makes any deal much tougher, even though he has already given Toronto four approved destinations.
That doesn’t mean Rielly is the obvious answer. He remains part of the core and has been with the team his entire career, which makes him a tougher player to deal with from a locker-room standpoint. Toronto could use veteran leadership in a group with this much change.
Ekman-Larsson, meanwhile, is heading into his third season with the Maple Leafs and has been one of their best players. He is also at the stage of his career where a different situation might give him more playing time. Still, if Toronto moved him, the team would be sacrificing a veteran who produced 39 points at a $3.5-million cap hit just because Rielly’s contract is harder to shift.
From a pure market standpoint, OEL is the more attractive trade chip because the money is lower and the term is shorter. Moving him would not clear as much cap space as dealing Rielly, but it would probably be easier to sell to another team and would open a regular spot for Emil Andrae, Ben Danford, or another younger defenseman.
The downside is obvious: Toronto would be thinning its depth by moving a productive veteran, and that’s a real cost. Replicating the value of either player internally is not realistic, so if the Leafs do make a move, the production will have to be replaced in pieces.
For now, both Rielly and Ekman-Larsson still look set to be in Toronto when next season begins. But if the Leafs decide to reshape the blue line again, moving one of them would create more flexibility for the deadline and beyond.
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