Ex-NHL Executive Pushing the Maple Leafs to Acquire Former Norris Trophy Winner Roman Josi

An ex-NHL executive is urging the Maple Leafs to push their chips in and and pursue a blockbuster trade for Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi.

Despite an overhaul of the blueline in the off-season that saw Leafs GM Brad Treliving bring in Jani Hakanpaa, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev, there are still questions about the defense corps in Toronto.

The latest discourse has revolved around trading the longest tenured Leaf Morgan Rielly amid a season of struggles on both sides of the puck.

It's not just Rielly struggling, with the team as a whole failing to produce lately, scoring just 1 goal in each of their past three games and continuing to have difficulty with the man-advantage.

Given the team's struggles, fans and some Toronto media have begun to contest the Leafs' biggest need is no longer a center, but an upgrade on defense -- someone who can produce some offense from the back end.

On Thursday's episode of the 'Toronto Sports Rush' podcast, former NHL executive and long-time colour commentator Pierre McGuire revealed that Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi would solve a number of issues on the back end for the Maple Leafs.

The 34-year-old is currently in the fifth year of an eight-year deal that kicked in for the 2020-21 season and carries a $9.059M cap hit.

The second-round pick from 2008 can play in all situations and play heavy minutes as McGuire noted and would give the Leafs another shooting threat on a very disjointed power-play.

While the Preds aren't likely to trade their captain, it wouldn't be the first time they've done it, as they traded Shea Weber to Montreal for P.K.

Subban in a deal that shocked the hockey community years ago.

The acquisition cost would be substantial and the Leafs would have to move out a significant amount of money as well, but if they are able to add a legitimate top-pairing defenseman that is widely considered to be one of the best in the NHL, it is certainly worth a phone call at the very least.

This article first appeared on Maple Leafs Daily and was syndicated with permission..

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