The Maple Leafs have made a move ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
Toronto dealt centre Nicolas Roy to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday for a conditional first-round pick at the 2027 draft along with a fifth-rounder in June.
In the event the first-round selection falls inside the top 10, the Avalanche would instead send the Maple Leafs their unprotected first-rounder in 2028. Toronto also gets the lowest of Colorado’s three picks in the fifth round of the 2026 draft as part of the swap.
The trade signals the first of a series of moves expected ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. ET cutoff by the Maple Leafs, who have woefully underperformed this season and are a long shot to make the playoffs after nine straight appearances.
Roy had five goals and 20 points in 59 games with the Maple Leafs after joining the club as part of a sign-and-trade deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in the off-season.
The 29-year-old from Amos, Que., who carries a salary cap hit of $3 million US through the 2026-27 season, has put up 73 goals and 186 points in 428 NHL regular-season games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Golden Knights and Maple Leafs.
Selected with the 96th pick at the 2015 draft, Roy won the Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2023 as part of a playoff career that has produced 10 goals and 32 points in 79 contests.
Elsewhere, the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights got centre Nic Dowd from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick, a 2029 second-rounder and young goaltender Jesper Vikman.
Vegas jumped the line in January, before the Olympic break, to pick up defenceman Rasmus Andersson from the Flames. Now general manager Kelly McCrimmon bolstered the roster up front.
Dowd, 35, gives the Golden Knights a penalty killer and shutdown defender down the middle who can also chip in some offence. He has 16 points and 43 blocked shots in 55 games this season.
An Alabama native, Dowd is under contract through ’26-27 at a reasonable salary cap hit of $3 million.
The Golden Knights could still target a goaltender. While the Avalanche have the best team save percentage in the league at .916, Vegas is second-worst at .880 between Adin Hill, Carter Hart, Akira Schmid and Carl Lindbom.
The Utah Mammoth got defenceman MacKenzie Weegar from Calgary for three second-round picks in the draft this year, Olli Maatta and unsigned prospect Jonathan Castagna.
Weegar, 32, gives the Mammoth an experienced player capable of playing big minutes as they attempt to get into the playoffs in the Western Conference. He had to waive his full no-trade clause to approve the deal and bet on Utah as a long-term home, since he’s under contract through 2031 at an annual salary cap hit of $6.25 million.
“MacKenzie is a high-end defenceman with the type of leadership and work ethic that we want in a top-four blue liner,” Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong said. “Acquiring MacKenzie solidifies our back end as we continue to push towards the playoffs, and he will be a great addition to our team on and off the ice.”
Trading Dowd signals the Capitals’ intention to at least in part be sellers, sitting four points back of the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference but having played three more games than Boston, which is in that position. Pending unrestricted free-agent forward Brandon Duhaime and defenceman Trevor van Riemsdyk are also trade candidates for Washington.
With roughly 26 hours to go before the deadline, plenty of other teams who declared they’re open for business are awaiting more deals. Vincent Trocheck remains with the New York Rangers, and head coach Mike Sullivan was noncommittal about whether the centre whose name is atop many trade boards would play Thursday night against Toronto.
