Per the club’s official report, the Leafs are giving up a 2026 seventh-round pick and the rights to AHL forward Max Ellis in exchange for the rights to the pending UFA defenseman.
This return, while technically something, is largely nothing. The Leafs expect to be a playoff team in 2026, so that seventh-rounder will come near the back of the draft, with an expected analytical value of almost 0, per Dom Luszczyszyn’s draft pick value chart from 2020.
As for Ellis, he is a 24-year-old minor league forward who played at Notre Dame and whose NCAA career amounted to essentially a half of one good season before signing with the Marlies in 2022.