Brad Treliving breaks silence after busy Leafs Trade Deadline

The Toronto Maple Leafs made the call to add some valuable depth pieces to their lineup as they enter crunch time in their schedule. 

They picked up defenseman Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a third-round pick in 2024 and a fifth-round pick in 2025. Additionally, they acquired Connor Dewar from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick and forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov. 

Not long after the deals were announced, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving recapped the moves that he made, staring with explaining that a major splash likely wasn't going to be a realistic possibility. 

"It was a normal trade deadline day," Treliving said. "There has been a lot of activity leading up to today. With some of the things we were looking to do, we probably felt coming into today that what were maybe considered the “bigger deals” were not going to come to fruition. Now, you are with the staff looking at how to improve and what opportunities may be out there."

Treliving then offered an explanation as to why they brought in Dewar from the Wild and specifically what they liked about him ahead of the deal. 

"What has attracted us to Connor Dewar, he is a defensively responsible centerman," Treliving explained. "I don’t think you can have too many centermen. He is proficient on the penalty kill. It is a specific area we wanted to see if we could help ourselves with.

He gives us more depth in the middle," he continued. "We have talked briefly with Sheldon (Keefe) throughout the day and a lot over the last few weeks about areas we would like to address. That is where we think Connor fits in with us. He is defensively sound. He is a very competitive player. Hopefully, he can help us on the PK."

As far as the acquisition of Edmundson, not only is he a valuable depth piece for the team to have at their disposal, but also brings championship experience, as he was a member of the 2019 St. Louis Blues that won the franchise's first championship. 

"We were excited to get Joel," Treliving said. "He is a big, long, rangy defenseman. He adds length and physicality. He adds experience. By adding him and Boosh, we have added some size and bite on the backend. Now, we have to do it by committee."

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