1st off any team making a trade now overpay alot seeing if you are doing a trade you are desperate so odds are for example Hainsey would cost the leafs probably a 2nd or 3rd.

Yes they can. Will they? Unlikely. Toronto is very near the contract limit and any player they would trade for cant play in postseason. Zero chance Koivu waives because of that. Any acquisition will be very minor. Hainsey might waive but anyone with a family isnt going to force them to move long distance just so the leafs can fill a hole for a month

and guess what Dubas tells them to stick it, and get nothing when they retire or leave in Free Agency (please do regurgitate Burke, thank you)

First of all Koivu refuses to waive the no-trade and said the decision was final. Secondly, if they did make a trade imagine a guy comes in and helps them get into the playoffs and then can’t even play in them, that’ll really be a disaster waiting to happen when you can’t put your best team on the ice.

the koivu thing was very unlikely, but the other 2 i could see.

the guy can't feel bad about not playing in the playoffs when he isn't going to be playing in them now. imagine you are Daley/Hainsey, i'm sure proud men who have had to deal with the season thos teams have had, both have ties to Toronto; and then imagine getting to live your last 20 games as a professional playing intense playoff style games....... or showing up to play/sit out the string in DET/OTT

and as far as best team goes, these guys are not part of the best team, those guys are on LTIR