It’s not hard to appreciate what James van Riemsdyk does well.



He is a 6-foot-3, 210 pound winger with ultra-soft hands, someone who can feather a pretty pass through a defender, shoot top shelf from a distance or score from in tight in a battle situation.



That’s what the Maple Leafs added in one of the more lopsided trades in franchise history back in the summer of 2012, when they acquired him for only Luke Schenn. Since then, JVR has 102 goals in 282 games, the 24th highest total in the league and a 30-goal pace.



Only seven left wingers have scored more than he has in that span.



And he’s only 27 years old and a popular, down-to-earth personality in the Leafs room.



So why trade him? Why even talk about trading him?



You can’t keep everyone in the NHL anymore. You can’t have everything. Look at what the Chicago Blackhawks have had to go through the last six-plus years, shedding talent again and...