![\"Mason](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1906097306-e1753881977540.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Could the Maple Leafs acquire this promising center from the Anaheim Ducks?<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> have been busy this summer. They traded Mitch Marner<\/a> to the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>, extended Matthew Knies, and added some grit and jam around the edges with players like Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heavy.com proposed a deal that would help the Maple Leafs make up for the lost offense of Marner\u2019s departure. They could do that by trading for Mason McTavish<\/a> of the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs Acquire:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ducks Acquire:<\/strong><\/p>\n In this proposal, the Maple Leafs add McTavish, the third overall pick in 2021. The 22-year-old, 6-foot-1, 219 lb center<\/a> can be a top-six addition to the Maple Leafs forward group. He recorded 52 points in 76 games, a new career high.<\/p>\n A top-pairing defender comes to the Ducks with Morgan Rielly<\/a>. Rielly was the fifth overall selection made by the Maple Leafs in the 2012 draft. The 31-year-old left-handed defender is 6-foot-1, 225 lbs. He is coming off a 41-point 2024-25 regular season<\/a> where he played all 82 games.<\/p>\n Mason McTavish is a Great Fit With Maple Leafs<\/p>\n McTavish is a desirable player for any NHL team. However, the young forward is an RFA still waiting on a new contract<\/a>. One NHL insider believes that the time is now for a team to acquire McTavish.<\/p>\n During an appearance on the Sekeres & Price Show in early July, insider Jeff Marek discussed the Ducks and their current situation with McTavish.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019re starting to see the Anaheim Ducks be a little bit more aggressive, to try to make sure they can at least be a Wild Card team in the Western Conference,\u201d Marek said<\/a> to the hosts. He continued, \u201cIt\u2019s probably the most that Mason McTavish has been available.\u201d<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, the Maple Leafs can join a few other potential suitors who need a second-line center.<\/p>\n \u201cStart the lineup of teams that are looking for a second-line center, whether it\u2019s Minnesota or Montreal.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, the Maple Leafs are not on that list. However, there is an excellent opportunity to acquire McTavish, put him on a line with John Tavares<\/a>, and allow the veteran center to mentor the young forward.<\/p>\n Having two natural centers on the same line isn\u2019t a bad thing; the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> do it all the time with Connor McDavid<\/a> and Leon Draisaitl<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs Give Rielly a Fresh Start<\/p>\n Nick Kypreos believes that the Maple Leafs can deal from a position of strength by trading a defender.<\/p>\n \u201cGM Brad Treliving is aiming to give his team a new look next season and change over part of the core,\u201d Kypreos wrote.<\/a> \u201cGiven the blue line is in a good place and forward is where the Leafs have more questions and holes to fill, might they look to flip a blueliner for, ideally, a top-six scorer?\u201d<\/p>\n 32 Thoughts Podcast host and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman also pondered the same thing in the most recent episode<\/a> of his podcast.<\/p>\n Rielly is an offensively minded defender with 513 points recorded in his 873-game career. If there is any weakness on the Ducks, it\u2019s on the left side of their blueline.<\/p>\n The Ducks have Jacob Trouba, Radko Gudas<\/a>, and Drew Helleson locking up the right side on defense. That leaves 24-year-old Jackson LaCombe, and a trio of 21-year-olds with Pavel Mintyukov, Tristan Luneau, and Olen Zellweger as the four available lefties.<\/p>\n Adding Rielly gives the Ducks a partner for Trouba. It would push LaCombe to play on the second pairing, with Gudas leaving one of the 21-year-olds to play on the third pairing.<\/p>\n The only thing holding back a deal of this nature is the no-movement clause Rielly has<\/a> in his contract. If the 31-year-old is willing to waive that to play for Joel Quenneville, then this deal is a win-win for both sides.<\/p>\n The Ducks have $21,388,812 in salary cap<\/a> space.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCaleb Kerney<\/strong><\/a> Caleb covers the NHL for Heavy.com. He has covered professional hockey since 2022, including bylines at Dobber Prospects, The Hockey Writers, and The Hockey News. More about Caleb Kerney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Could the Maple Leafs acquire this promising center from the Anaheim Ducks? The Toronto Maple Leafs have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":107450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-107449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114947681684854803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}