Simon Edvinsson's reported trade demand has the Toronto Maple Leafs staring at a possible blue line fix this morning.
The Detroit Red Wings defenseman is reportedly training in Sweden amid a contract dispute. A new Hockey Patrol proposal would send him up Highway 401.
The pitch is simple. Toronto gets Edvinsson, and Detroit gets Dakota Joshua plus prospects Tinus-Luc Koblar and Ben Danford.
The Leafs' need isn't hard to spot. Toronto sits 1-2-0 after Saturday night's loss to the Ottawa Senators, and every one of those games came on home ice.
Look at the back end. Chris Tanev is 36, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is 35, and neither has a point yet.
Morgan Rielly has chipped in 3 assists, but he's 32 and sitting at minus-2. Toronto needs another defenseman who can drive play north.
Darren Raddysh hasn't helped the math either. He's carrying an $8,500,000 cap hit and has gone minus-3 through three games.
Shawn Horcoff has no reason to sell a former top-10 pick cheap
The Swede stands 6-foot-6 and plays a heavy game. He racked up 75 penalty minutes last season.
He also posted 25 points in 72 games, finishing plus-12 for the second straight year.
Career-wise, he has 60 points in 175 NHL games. And he only turns 24 in February.
His entry-level deal carried a $894,167 cap hit through 2025-26, leaving him a restricted free agent. Detroit holds the rights, and that's real leverage.
Here's the problem. Detroit would trade a young blueliner for two prospects and a depth forward, which is like swapping your house for two lottery tickets and a used couch.
Dakota Joshua is 30, with a $3,250,000 cap hit that runs through 2027-28. That's term Detroit would be absorbing, not shedding.
He managed 18 points in 55 games for the Leafs last season. That's a long way from the 32 he posted with Vancouver in 2023-24.
Detroit isn't exactly in a position to give anything away. The Red Wings dropped Sunday afternoon's game 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets and have just 2 goals through two games.
Todd McLellan's group hosts Ottawa on Tuesday, still looking for its first win of the season.
Moving Edvinsson would also leave Ben Chiarot, 35, and Justin Faulk, 34, soaking up more minutes on a blue line that's supposed to be getting younger.
And would Horcoff really hand a division rival a defenseman he drafted sixth overall? These teams meet four times, starting December 22 in Detroit.
Toronto has already shown it'll deal. Kirill Marchenko has 2 points in three games since landing with the Leafs.
Jim Hiller's bench hosts the Nashville Predators on Tuesday before a three-game road trip through Vegas, Colorado and Utah.
Somebody has to blink. Until a contract or a phone call comes, the Swede keeps training an ocean away while Detroit chases its first win.
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Should the Maple Leafs give up Ben Danford and Tinus-Luc Koblar for Simon Edvinsson?
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