The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired Matias Maccelli from Utah in exchange for a conditional third-round pick in 2027.
Their 2027 third-round pick can become a 2029 second-round pick if Maccelli scores 51 or more points in 2025-26 and Toronto qualifies for the playoffs. Either way, it’s a worthwhile swing.
It was widely reported for months now that Maccelli had asked for a trade after falling out of favour in Utah, but the Leafs had not been linked to him, given his 5’11 stature.
Size aside, this fit makes a ton of sense. Maccelli is still just 24 — turning 25 in October — and has 49 and 57-point seasons under his belt already. He’s a high-end playmaker who is a pass-first player, with a mesmerizing highlight reel:
Obviously, with the Leafs expected to lose their top playmaker in Mitch Marner, Maccelli helps to fill some of that void, in theory, at a fraction of the cost, given he’s making just $3.425 million and will also be an RFA when his current deal expires.
This is the type of buy-low deal the Leafs haven’t been able to make for years due to their lack of cap space, and the risk is relatively low.
In our trade pieces, we’ve flagged the age of the Leafs roster (it’s older), so any attempt to add young, quality players is welcome. Maccelli fits the bill. He immediately becomes the second youngest player on the roster, unless an Easton Cowan makes the team.
In terms of the player himself, Maccelli is not physical, but his puck skills are high-end, and he’s respectable in his own end. He’s nowhere near as good as Marner is defensively, but similar to Marner, he’s competent in his own end due to his positioning and instincts. On the offensive side, he has great vision and tends to overpass as a result. In his breakout 49-point season in just 64 games, for example, he registered just 61 shots on net.
Maccelli has never played a game in the playoffs, and how his game will translate in postseason-type hockey is a genuine concern — as is his lack of production last season, although he did shoot a career-low and recorded a 975 PDO. It’s safe to bet both will bounce back. If they don’t, he risks repeating what happened in Utah, where if he’s not producing, his ice time will go down and he won’t be in the lineup on a regular basis.
For the price of a third — maybe a second if he has 50+ points and the Leafs make the playoffs — it’s a low-risk buy on a player with a solid history of production, who is just hitting his prime years, and who is still cost controlled on a cheap deal that will retain his rights. When the cap space is there, the Leafs can take a few gambles like this.
A potential fit alongside Matthews obviously makes sense as a pass-first player on the wing beside an elite goal scorer, but where that leaves Max Domi is a question mark. You could also argue he could play alongside Nylander in a scoring role as a playmaker beside the second-leading goal scorer in the league last season. But it’s fair to question how the line would perform, given it features two players who aren’t exactly going to forecheck and get the puck back.
With that said, the player himself profiles as a good buy-low risk, but the fit on the roster itself is much less clear. It’s hard to envision this team running all of Maccelli, Domi, and Nick Robertson as undersized, offensive forwards. We can add Calle Jarnkrok to that group, too, even though he plays a different type of role. Logic dictates that something will have to give there.
I will also add that these are the exact type of gambles teams should be making in general. I hate to continue comparing everything to Florida, but when they made moves like acquiring Brandon Montour — an undersized defenseman who washed out of Buffalo — for a third-round pick, it wasn’t widely celebrated. In a different role on a better team, he emerged, and the rest is history.
Maccelli has a similar profile in terms of a player who has legitimate success under his belt already, is still young, is under team control, and has a ton of upside. He might not hit, but he has legitimate point-per-game upside with his playmaking and creativity, especially if he can click beside Matthews or Nylander.
Or he could wash out the way he did in Utah. Still, for the price of a third — or maybe a second — it’s a worthwhile gamble.
It’s also important to note that there have been all sorts of players (Nik Ehlers) who have been publicly dismissed as not “Craig Berube-type” players, and yet the Leafs’ first trade of the offseason was to acquire Maccelli. Some of those narratives don’t match reality. The Leafs would surely like size — as would every team — but philosophically, they are not size or bust. There are also some ties to Maccelli through Shane Doan, whose son played with him, and he is obviously intertwined with the (formerly Arizona) franchise.
The Leafs’ cap outlook now gives them just under $11.3M in cap space with 10 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies under contract. Those numbers include David Kampf as well. They still have ample room to add, and it’s fair to expect they will subtract some players from the roster, too.
There is plenty more to come, but this is a decent buy-low, low-risk option, and a much better bet than most of the free agents who are going to hit the market tomorrow.
(If you want to learn more about Maccelli as a person, I enjoyed this video interview).
