Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Speculation: Should Mikhail Grabovski Go?

Lost in the talk of Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur's regression in terms of points from last year is the play of Mikhail Grabovski, who is quietly on pace to match his career-high point total (58) from last year.

General manager Brian Burke may not think that there is much of a problem with that trio's offensive output, but the numbers don't lie.

MacArthur has 14 goals on the year so far, but only 10 assists. He will likely exceed his career-high 21 goals from last year, but will fall short of his career-high 41 assists from last season.

Kulemin, of course, only has five goals right now.

Though he is not as physical or big as Kulemin, Grabovski is clearly the best and most valuable player on that line, despite the fact that all three have 60-point potential.

Therefore, Grabovski likely has the highest trade value of the three.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Tim Connolly to a two-year, $9.5 million contract over the summer to fill that top line center position, but Tyler Bozak is a much better fit with wingers Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.

If Bozak played a full season with Kessel and Lupul, he'd have the potential for 60 points as well.

In 40 games, Bozak has 26 points. Another year of developing and maturing as a player could put him over the 60-point threshold.

Let's not also forget his current plus-four rating, an almost miraculous improvement last season's minus-29.

Connolly has missed a dozen games this season due to injury. Leaf fans can consider this a small blessing, though, he has not stepped up like he was expected to.

Although his signing doesn't look as bad as Scottie Upshall's in Florida or Ville Leino in Buffalo, Connolly hasn't even performed like the stop gap he was signed to be.

Grabovski is clearly a better fit on the second line with Kulemin and MacArthur while Bozak is the obvious choice to centre Kessel and Lupul.

Despite his skill set, Connolly simply does not seem to be a good fit for this Leaf squad, nor does he have the trade value that Grabovski has.

Thus, if the Leafs want that big top-six forward (preferably a centreman), you'd think Grabovski would have to be going the other way.

Although Brian Burke has fleeced a few teams to assemble the current Leaf roster, you can't expect him to continually trade spare parts for golden assets.

So even though Grabovski is one of the most valuable players on the team, any big trade—and you've got to believe a big trade is needed for a meaningful playoff run—would likely have to involve him.

Assuming a top centreman is acquired, Connolly would centre the second line, while Bozak could centre the third line.

The Leafs, however, would lose a heart and soul guy who can take a beating every night, score a huge goal and walk away from it without a scratch. Not to mention do it all over again the next game.

Quite a pickle.