The Toronto Maple Leafs season isn't technically over, but, at least in spirit, it's all but finished.
The Leafs (25-33-5) have 19 games remaining on their schedule, but are closer to the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel 2015 NHL Draft sweepstakes than they are to an NHL playoff berth.
Leafs GM Dave Nonis and President Brendan Shanahan sold off a couple of pieces ahead of the NHL trade deadline - Olli Jokinen, Korbinian Holzer - after moving Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli a few weeks prior, but none of the major pieces moved - none of the big contracts and disappointing Leafs stars found themselves unceremoniously shipped to another far-flung region of the NHL map.
The likes of Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul ultimately stayed put, though it wasn't for lack of trying and interest, especially on Phaneuf and Lupul.
"Dion Phaneuf could have been traded yesterday," said TSN's Darren Dreger on Toronto's TSN 1050, per NicholsOnHockey.com. "Detroit had enough interest that there was a deal there to be made, but effectively Toronto would have been giving Phaneuf away and they would have had to have taken on a bad contract - like a Stephen Weiss type of contract - to make that deal work."
The rumored deal ahead of the deadline was Phaneuf to the Detroit Red Wings for Brendan Smith and Stephen Weiss. Shanahan and Nonis clearly though they could get more.
"And probably as much as Dion Phaneuf - and maybe even a bit more - was the interest in Joffrey Lupul. A couple of teams had serious trade negotiations with Dave Nonis. They talked about the framework of what it would take. They talked about certain players. But in the end they just couldn't bring it all together."
Don't assume that the lack of deals ahead of the deadline mean that the players are staying put though. As Jonas Siegel of TSN notes, the Leafs need assets in return for these guys - not just any assets too, high-quality assets that can help turn the franchise around.
"These are big, important decisions the Leafs need to get right. And if Monday's deadline activity or lack thereof demonstrated anything, it's that Shanahan and his team won't force what's not there. Moving players for the sake of moving players doesn't help a team edging toward rebuild with each step it takes," writes Siegel.
"Toronto needs assets to get that process moving forward. They claimed a few ahead of the deadline, but did not strike in swapping out their most valuable pieces. That process, it appears, will have to wait until the offseason."
Whether it's in the offseason or not, it seems almost a foregone conclusion that most, if not all of the Leafs current "core" players will find themselves elsewhere next season.
