With Zach Werenski fresh off winning the Norris Trophy, the Toronto Maple Leafs are emerging as a serious suitor for the Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman—one who may be open to waiving his no-movement clause. The ask in Columbus sounds specific: the Blue Jacke
By the time the Stanley Cup dreams start sounding like a calendar, the Maple Leafs have always chased the idea in the background: a “Kawhi move,” a true league-rattling all-in instead of a careful tweak that leaves the ceiling untouched.
Now the name on the trade-market board looks like the kind of difference-maker teams rarely get—and it comes with a fresh trophy to match it. Zach Werenski is available less than three weeks after being awarded the Norris Trophy as hockey’s best defenceman. and he’s in his prime at 28. His recent production has been exactly the sort that keeps general managers up at night: back-to-back 20-goal. 80-point seasons and more than 26 minutes per night.
Columbus’s problem, for them, is also Toronto’s hook. Werenski is reportedly open to the idea of waiving his no-movement clause to one Canadian team. That destination is the one that drafted him. with Auston Matthews at the center of the pitch—Matthews. the captain of that club. and also a friend and fellow Olympic champion of Werenski. The connection runs deeper than fandom: Werenski and Matthews share an agent. Judd Moldaver. and both contracts have the same expiration date: July 1. 2028.
If there’s a parallel to the league’s recent trade shocks, it’s already being drawn. “You can’t miss” speculation is starting to circle back to the same theory—because the Werenski situation is turning into a five-alarm blaze in Columbus.
Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell is preparing for it in real time. He’s set to meet with his MVP next week. and the understanding inside Columbus is that neither Werenski nor star winger Kirill Marchenko—an RFA in 2027—is interested in re-signing long-term in Ohio. In other words, the clock isn’t hypothetical anymore.
Waddell’s message to the rest of the league has been blunt. Speaking to reporters. he said. “I’ve told everybody we’re dealing with that we’re not talking about draft picks at this point. If we’re going to trade any players off our team, we need players. To trade any player for a first-round pick, that may sound good. But it doesn’t do us any good for the next three years. I don’t think the draft, in this case, has any impact on what we do with (Werenski).”.
That’s the line Toronto would be stepping over: it’s not enough to promise future value. The Blue Jackets want current bodies—and specifically the kind that can land in the lineup soon enough to justify moving an impact player who’s becoming harder to replace.
Still, the conversation for Toronto isn’t happening in a vacuum. After Saturday’s draft, Chayka teased that he is entertaining “bigger swings” in the market. Interest also appears to be spreading around the Leafs’ orbit beyond Werenski: the club is believed to have varying degrees of interest in pending UFAs Sergei Bobrovsky. Mason Marchment. and Patrick Kane. along with a Vincent Trocheck trade.
As the Werenski wheels turn, the market details are taking shape, too. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos put Werenski on his trade board Friday. laying out a potential starting point that included a deal around Matthew Knies and Colorado’s 2027 first-round pick. He also asked whether prospect defenceman Ben Danford’s performance in the Calder Cup playoffs would excite anyone. and whether the Blue Jackets would explore having Rielly in the package.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun added Saturday that Toronto is the only Canadian destination in a competitive mix for a left-shot defenceman. That same competitive group also includes Tampa Bay, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Jose, and Carolina. There’s a specific wrinkle in Carolina: the Hurricanes are now trying their luck with two years of pending UFA John Carlson.
Columbus’s likely starting point, meanwhile, sounds expensive in a way that targets the Leafs’ core pipeline. Waddell’s path appears to be built around Easton Cowan and/or Danford and/or Colorado’s 2027 first-rounder. which Chayka owns. The Leafs could also look at sweeteners—such as Nick Robertson (RFA) or Dennis Hildeby—if they want to keep the central pieces intact. The money math could be a separate headache: Werenski makes $9.58 million until Hughes and Cale Makar reset the market. and the suggestion of moving Morgan Rielly comes down to whether Columbus would take him to help align the deal.
The broader point hanging over this is how rarely a talent like Werenski lands. Game-breaking defensemen of his kind don’t hit the market every day. Even rarer, in this particular moment, is that he may be open to joining a Canadian team.
There is also something emotional in the reason this pitch could travel further than usual. Werenski’s experience with Team USA—captained by Matthews—helped fuel the idea of playing bigger games with more attention and higher stakes. In Milan. before capturing gold. Werenski said. “To be honest. it’s the most fun I’ve had playing hockey ever in my life. Just being around these guys. being in this atmosphere. seeing all the media. just how much attention this tournament’s gotten. I haven’t had this much fun playing hockey ever.”.
Of course, trading for Werenski and keeping him are two different stories. The risk, by all accounts, is real enough that it has already landed on another club’s doorstep. Ask the Wild—now down to one more guaranteed Stanley Cup shot with Hughes. That’s the kind of gamble Toronto would have to consider. too. even with Werenski’s track record and the connections that make this feel more than just a cold transaction.
What makes the negotiation feel tighter is what Waddell said about the nature of players like this on the market. He told reporters. “If you’re. hypothetically. talking about trading the Norris Trophy winner. this type of player doesn’t get traded very often. If he would hit the market. the players that teams aren’t shopping. the ones they’d like to keep. would be the ones that are available. If we go that direction.”.
It leaves Columbus with a choice that won’t be painless. Chayka would have to explore that direction with Waddell—considering the cost of trading the ones they’d like to keep: Knies, Danford, and maybe even Cowan. It’s risky. It’s expensive. And it might well be regrettable.
But that’s also what makes this kind of window so unforgiving. So, for now, Leafs fans don’t just have a player to hope for. They have the chance to build the kind of roster that turns a “someday” into a serious chase—powered by a Norris winner who. for reasons that run from production to friendships to Olympic atmosphere. could genuinely want to cross the border and try to win.
Maple Leafs Zach Werenski Columbus Blue Jackets Norris Trophy Auston Matthews trade rumors Don Waddell Judd Moldaver Kirill Marchenko Matthew Knies Ben Danford Morgan Rielly Nick Kypreos Pierre LeBrun