Flames' trade offer for Nathan MacKinnon is informative for Maple Leafs
· Yahoo Sports
Flames' trade offer for Nathan MacKinnon is informative for Maple Leafs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Visit fish-roadgame.com for more information.
The Toronto Maple Leafs may want to look to the past as their phone rings with calls to trade up for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Specifically, to 2013, when the Calgary Flames tried to trade with the Colorado Avalanche for the right to take Nathan MacKinnon.
The Flames held three first-round picks that year: Nos. 6, 22 and 28.
According to insider Elliotte Friedman, the Flames offered all three to Colorado for the top pick.
The Avalanche said no and drafted MacKinnon, who was expected to be good and has turned out to be one of the best players on the planet.
The Maple Leafs this year lucked into the top pick with just the fifth-best lottery odds. They have the chance to take the Canadian phenom, Gavin McKenna.
Others will surely try to trade up into that spot to get McKenna for themselves. But it'd have to take a heck of a lot for the Leafs to move down.
"(Colorado) felt those 3 (Flames) picks together were not even worth No. 1," Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast. "So I'm sure Toronto will entertain all options here, but in the NHL, history shows that if you have these picks, it is extremely rare that you move far away from them."
This also provided an interesting retrospective on Flames and Avalanche history. How different would things be if that deal had gone down? It's safe to say quite different.
That's the battle Toronto will fight now. Some offers might seem very good on paper. But do any of them equal McKenna (or the other potential top pick, Ivar Sternberg)?
The reality is that the Leafs will probably stay put, but it'll be fascinating to see what rumors might roll in as the draft approaches.