P.K. Subban trade rumors: Maple Leafs have significant interest

P.K. Subban has been on trade block since the Predators season ended, and now the Toronto Maple Leafs have potentially entered the mix as a trade candidate.

NHL Draft weekend is the peak of all NHL trade rumors, and it likely won’t get any bigger than this, with the prolific P.K Subban potentially being on the move as soon as the end of the draft.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Nashville Predators are quietly shopping Subban to the highest bidder, and that the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams that interested in making a move for the former Norris winner.

After being acquired by the Nashville Predators from the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 2016, Subban helped the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2017 and has been one of the staples of the Predators vaunted blueline. However, The 30-year-old tallied 31 points in 63 games last year with Nashbille, his lowest point total in season over his 10 year career. But even with a drop off in production, Subban still played 22:40 per game.

It’s no secret that the Maple Leafs have been desperate for a solid right handed defenseman for ages now, and Subban would easily fit that bill. Subban’s personality mixed with a prolific hockey market like Toronto would either be a dream or a complete nightmare, depending on how you look at it.

How the Maple Leafs could even possibly fit Subban under the cap is another question, since they are going to have a lot of trouble even getting their own team together with Mitch Marner potentially taking up the rest of their cap space, along with other restricted free agents like Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. Subban is owed $9 million per year until the 2022 season, and Toronto has just $7,790,301 even without their RFAs signed.

If the Maple Leafs were to make a deal with the Predators, one of Kapanen or Johnsson, if not Marner would likely have to be included as a part of a much larger package.

However, the Predators have made it known that they would be willing to retain some salary on Subban’s contract of the right deal presents itself. The maximum Nashville could retain is 4.5M (50%), for the remained of Subban’s contract.

Along with the Maple Leafs, the Vancouver Canucks are also rumored to be interested in trading for Subban, who came close to acquiring him in the 2016 NHL Draft. The Canucks have the assets to acquire him, and the cap room to fit him on the team.