Maple Leafs Acquire McCabe and Lafferty From the Blackhawks 

The Toronto Maple Leafs have done it again; they have acquired both Jake McCabe and Sam Laffery as well as a conditional fifth-round pick in both 2024 and 2025 from the Chicago Blackhawks. In exchange, they have sent the Blackhawks Joey Anderson, Pavel Gogolev, a 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected) and a 2025 second-round pick. The Blackhawks have also retained 50% of McCabe’s contract, meaning the Leafs get him for $2 million for the remainder of this season and the next two seasons.

The Blackhawks had a market for McCabe and Lafferty, but Toronto’s general manager (GM) Kyle Dubas felt that he needed to improve the team after already making a splash with the Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari trade, so he acquired them both. McCabe, 29, is a left-handed defenseman who can play both sides and brings a skill set that is similar to that of Justin Holl but is more consistent. As for Lafferty, he is also not a rental. He has a cap hit of $1.15 million and is signed through the end of next season.

The draft picks from the Leafs allow the Blackhawks to stretch out their rebuild and do it properly. Chicago adds two more to its collection, which they can use or potentially trade depending on how they are as an organization in 2025 or 2026. They now have 26 picks in the next three NHL drafts, and with players still to sell, like Patrick Kane and Max Domi, that will grow to over 30 in the three years.

Overall, this trade increases the Maple Leafs’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup. As mentioned above, there are a few names that Toronto will need to decide on ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. This could mean that they are still looking to add additional players who are on cheap deals. As for the Blackhawks, this is as per usual for a team that has declared a full-on rebuild.