The NHL’s holiday roster freeze is upon us, as teams are extremely limited with their transactions until 12:01 am on December 28. No trades, no waivers, or loans are permitted during the freeze, but teams are still able to call players up on an emergency basis. For the Maple Leafs, it’s more about what happened before the freeze.
With the expectation that GM Brad Treliving is going to add before the March 7 trade deadline, there were two trades that took place leading up to the holiday freeze that have taken two potential Maple Leafs’ trade targets off the board.
New York Rangers acquire Will Borgen
The New York Rangers gave up on Kaapo Kakko, moving the former second-overall pick to the Seattle Kraken for right-handed defenseman Will Borgen and two draft picks. Borgen is a blueliner who has been linked to the Maple Leafs the past two seasons, stands 6-foot-3, and plays an in-your-face defensive style that head coach Craig Berube craves.
Borgen’s had a rough time this season with the Kraken, and has seen his ice-time decrease by over two minutes per game, dropping down to 15:12 a night. Borgen recorded two points in 33 games so far this year, he’s been a staple on the second penalty-kill unit, while landing 48 hits, and blocking 37 shots.
Last season, Borgen had a career year, scoring three goals and 25 points in 82 games, while dishing out 196 hits and blocking 111 shots. The 28-year-old holds a $2.7 million cap hit for the rest of this season, and is a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
With Conor Timmins and Philippe Myers rotating throughout the early parts of this season, it’s become quite obvious Toronto’s coaching staff isn’t necessarily sold on either player. And you could loop in Simon Benoit into the conversation. Borgen would have brought a bit of nastiness to the bottom pair, and certainly some more size to the Leafs’ blue line.
Montreal Canadiens acquire Alexandre Carrier
The Canadiens swapped defenseman Justin Barron with the Nashville Predators, in exchange for Alexandre Carrier. The 28-year-old right-handed D-man has been a player linked to the Maple Leafs throughout the Treliving era. Although he’s slightly undersized at 5-foot-11, and 180 pounds, Carrier is tough as nails.
With the Predators this season, Carrier appeared in 28 games, scoring once and adding six assists. He’s played 2:44 per game on the penalty kill and was a huge part of the Predators’ short-handed success, as they rank first in the entire NHL with a 87.1% efficiency rating killing penalties.
Carrier isn’t a short-term fix in Montreal, as he’s signed through the 2026-27 season, at $3.75 million AAV. The Canadiens have a ton of cap space to work with this year, so adding Carrier to the books was seamless. Meanwhile, the Leafs are cash strapped very tight against the cap, and it would have likely been a trade, where a player with a decent cap hit would have gone the other way. Would it have been David Kampf? Or perhaps Conor Timmins?
With Borgen and Carrier off the board, Treliving and the Maple Leafs’ brass will have to look elsewhere to find some depth for the blueline. It’s going to be fun to watch how Toronto’s GM gets creative ahead of the March 7 trade deadline, as there’s very little doubt Treliving will be looking to upgrade the blueline, while also adding an impact player up front.
