Simon Edvinsson is back in Sweden, and the Maple Leafs have a blue line that badly needs what he brings.
The 23-year-old skated through the Red Wings' entire preseason on a professional tryout before talks broke down. Elliotte Friedman has reported he "prefers" a trade.
Now for the Leafs. If they want a 6-foot-6, 222-pound defenseman entering his prime, the Red Wings have no reason to sell cheap.
Edvinsson finished plus-12 last season, matching the rating he posted in 2024-25.
He added 25 points across 72 games. For a defenseman his age, that's a foundation to build on.
Toronto's back end looks very different. Every defenseman on the Leafs roster is at least 30, and Chris Tanev is 36.
That group just dropped a 4-3 shootout decision in Vegas last night. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is also listed day-to-day with an undisclosed issue.
Easton Cowan or Gavin McKenna: the real price for Toronto
Start with the contract. AFP Analytics projects a two-year bridge for Edvinsson at $5.2 million per season. Treat that as the floor.
The Leafs already pay Darren Raddysh $8.5 million a year. Good luck telling a top-pair defenseman seven years younger that he should accept less.
Waiting doesn't help either. Signing a young defenseman right now is like buying a house in a hot neighborhood: every spring you hesitate, the same place costs more.
Rasmus Dahlin carries an $11 million cap hit in Buffalo. Luke Hughes sits at $9 million in New Jersey, and that's the range a long-term Edvinsson deal lives in.
Fitting that beside Auston Matthews at $13.25 million and William Nylander at $11.5 million is doable. Comfortable is a different conversation.
Then comes the trade cost. And this is where Leafs fans should look away.
The Red Wings won't move a former sixth overall pick for spare parts. They'll want a young, cheap forward already producing at the NHL level.
Easton Cowan fits that description uncomfortably well, with four points through five games on a $900,000 cap hit.
Would the Leafs actually move him? They should, because young forwards cycle through every June and top-pair defensemen with that frame almost never hit the market.
Gavin McKenna is where it stops. The 18-year-old already has three points this season, and he's the kind of talent a franchise builds around.
The Red Wings have their own mess, opening 1-2-0 with Seattle in town tonight. That comes after a summer that already included a Dylan Larkin trade request.
The Dec. 1 signing deadline for restricted free agents is the real clock. If the Red Wings close a deal first, Toronto's aging blue line stays exactly as it is.
-
Should the Maple Leafs trade Easton Cowan to land Simon Edvinsson?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
The Jeremy Lauzon hit that just cost the Maple Leafs Oliver Ekman-Larsson
