The Minnesota Wild are still looking to add to their roster as the NHL trade deadline nears. The team needs center or forward depth in general and has been linked to several big-ticket players, such as Nico Hischier, Ryan O’Reilly, Vincent Trocheck, and Artemi Panarin.
The only problem with the Wild taking such a big swing is that they’ve already depleted most of their assets in the Quinn Hughes trade. That means their most valued pieces are players who are already playing key roles in St. Paul. Trading either Danila Yurov or Jesper Wallstedt would hamper their roster this year, let alone going into the future.
There are pros and cons to going all in. Still, if the Wild want to add to their team without totally breaking the bank, there will be options to acquire impact players who aren’t in the star category.
However, the Toronto Maple Leafs are emerging as a potential trade partner for the Wild if the Wild chooses to go down that route.
The Maple Leafs have had a nightmare season. They are 2-6-2 in their last ten games and are tied for last in the Atlantic division. There have been long-festering issues in the organization that have led to the team’s share of playoff misery, but they’re generally among the best teams in the league during the regular season.
The bottom has dropped out in 2025-26, leaving the team inching toward becoming sellers at the trade deadline, according to Elliotte Friedman. If Toronto makes some changes, Bill Guerin should be one of the first people to call.
When looking at the pieces the Leafs could offer, two names stand out as perfect fits in Minnesota. Scott Laughton and Nicolas Roy.
Scott Laughton is a 31-year-old center in the final year of a contract that pays him $3 million annually. He’s made his career in the NHL by being a tenacious forechecker who plays bigger than his relatively average 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame.
Laughton is the kind of player who fans and teammates appreciate, despite some of his metrics not looking stellar at first glance. His Corsi-for rating is 35% this season, and on-ice expected goals percentage is 37.5%
Still, Laughton plays difficult minutes. He plays a ton on the penalty kill (2:17 minutes per game this season), and often plays against other teams’ top players. According to Moneypuck, he has started only 3.2% of his shifts in the offensive zone, the eighth-lowest among players with more than 100 minutes played this season.
Laughton produces when his usage isn’t so demanding. He’s scored eight goals this season and has been good for about half a point per game for four seasons. Laughton is also winning 56.9% of his faceoffs this year. When he does have the opportunity to play 5-on-5, his expected goals for percentage is also a much more tenable 47.7%
Laughton has carved out a niche for himself as one of the league’s premier “energy” players. He plays solid defense, gets to the dirty areas of the ice, finishes his checks, and contributes some depth scoring. That type of player would be a strong fit for Minnesota as a third-line center, especially as they enter a playoff run.
Nicolas Roy is another potential target. Similar to Laughton, Roy is on a $3 million per year contract with the Leafs, but would have a year of term remaining to any team that acquires him.
Roy’s contract isn’t the only similarity to Laughton. Roy is a defense-first center who manages to contribute despite a challenging deployment.
The metrics on Roy are similar to Laughton’s, in that their possession numbers and expected goals rates are skewed by spending a lot of time on the penalty kill and always starting their shifts in the defensive zone. Roy is also a quality performer in the faceoff dot, winning 53.5% of his draws this season.
Where Roy differs from Laughton is in his slightly different offensive skill set. Roy is more of a playmaking center with 14 of his 19 points coming from assists. He accomplishes this with his hulking 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame. He works hard in the offensive zone, is difficult to knock off the puck, and shows poise and hockey IQ when playmaking.
Another intriguing aspect of Roy is his championship experience. During his tenure with the Vegas Golden Knights, Roy played a total of 79 playoff games and has amassed 32 points in that span. His best playoff run came in 2022-23, where he scored 11 points in 22 games on the way to a Stanley Cup victory.
A player with Roy’s physical gifts, playoff experience, and natural fit for the Wild’s needs make Roy another intriguing option for the Wild.
While the Maple Leafs are a good trade partner for the Wild, it takes two to tango. The Wild need to have assets that could interest Toronto. First, let’s define what the price might be.
It’s easy to define a market for Scott Laughton at the trade deadline. The Maple Leafs acquired him, along with a fourth and sixth-round pick, just last season for a first-round pick and decent prospect Nikita Grebenkin.
When the Leafs traded for Laughton, he still had a year left on his deal, and that extra year of term is valuable. It’s reasonable to expect the price for Laughton would be similar, but potentially less than the package the Philadelphia Flyers received for him.
Nicolas Roy is a bit more difficult to forecast. He was the centerpiece in the Mitch Marner trade, but that was an extenuating circumstance, given the rocky circumstances that led to Marner’s departure.
Still, Roy likely has a comparable value to Laughton, given their similar skill sets.
One thing that makes the Wild and Leafs particularly solid trade partners is that Toronto has spent years trying to compete for a Stanley Cup. They’ve emptied their cupboards of prospects and draft picks to build a contender.
Therefore, they’re likely to value NHL-ready prospects more highly than other teams. They’re locked into competing as long as they employ stars like William Nylander and Auston Matthews. They need to retool, not rebuild.
Would a player like David Jiricek or Carson Lambos work? What about one of the Wild’s other prospects who seem ready to crack a roster in the NHL? Only Bill Guerin and Brad Treliving know, but it may be a good place to start.
Scott Laughton or Nicolas Roy would have a lot to offer the Wild. They could add to their roster without trading a player already contributing in St. Paul, like Yurov or Wallstedt, or they could still take that big swing and have enough left over to add a depth player.
The Wild are going to have an interesting trade deadline with many options to catapult them into true contender status. The team should definitely consider calling Toronto as they ponder potential moves.