James van Riemsdyk is having a strong year, is second on the Maple Leafs in points, is by far the most offensively productive left winger in the organization and is just entering his prime.

Why in the world would you want to trade him?

The answer to that is complicated. But the ultimate, and most sensible, resolution of van Riemsdyk’s situation may be straightforward.

Keep him. Include him as part of a team that appears to be building toward becoming a contender in the next few seasons. Perhaps sign him to a new contract.

This, of course, won’t satisfy those who believe van Riemsdyk represents the most valuable chip the Leafs have to play these days as the team goes through a surprisingly successful season and looks to shore up other positions on the team in anticipation of a possible playoff berth.

But understand this; moving JVR would open up a yawning vacancy on Toronto’s left side. The second he leaves, Lou Lamoriello and Co. have to start looking for a scoring winger.

One lineup hole filled, another opened on a team still very much in the process of building organizational depth.

Until now, the movement to deal the six-foot-three winger has revolved around four basic arguments:

At 27, he is significantly older than the core group of this team and won’t be around when the club is actually ready to win.

With a cap hit of $4.25 million this year and next year before he hits unrestricted free agency, he owns a very affordable contract and is therefore enticing to other teams.

To keep him beyond this deal would require a major commitment of dollars under the cap that the Leafs might be unwilling to pay or that would put them in a bind when the time comes to lock up young stars like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

This team needs help on defence and trading van Riemsdyk is the best way to acquire that help.

To those four arguments you could add the fact that, if you traded him at this point, you’d probably be selling high.

With 15 goals and 20 assists, van Riemsdyk has more goals than the rest of the team’s regular left wingers combined. He’s the seventh highest scoring left winger in the league this season, despite getting a shade under 16 minutes of ice time per game. This is a player who used to get upwards of 20 minutes a night when he was playing with Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel two seasons ago.

His shooting percentage (13.4 per cent) is well about his career average. So whatever happens, it’s unlikely JVR will be worth more down the road on the trade market than he is right now.

But that also means he’s of great value to the Leafs, doesn’t it?

Let’s go through the other arguments in favour of trading van Riemsdyk.

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Yes, he’s eight years older than Matthews and Marner, and five years older than Morgan Rielly. But he’s just one year older than both Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri, both viewed as key elements to the club moving forward.

The suggestion that his cap hit makes him attractive to other teams is correct, and that to keep him after next season, the Leafs would probably have to commit to a contract that would pay him $6 million to $7 million per season. That may be too rich for some. At the same time, it’s also important to understand that the Leafs will lop off $11.3 million of dead money after this season in the contracts of Brooks Laich, Milan Michalek, Colin Greening and Stephane Robidas, and then lose the $5.25 million cap hit of Joffrey Lupul after next season.

In other words, the Leafs’ cap situation is pretty flexible after this season and should be able to accommodate van Riemsdyk without making it more difficult to sign the likes of Matthews, Marner and William Nylander.

Which brings us to the state of the club’s blue line. The consensus seems to be that the Leafs desperately need help on the back end despite the fact Toronto has surrendered more than three goals in a game just three times since the beginning of December. The top four defencemen — Rielly, Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Carrick — are all 26 or younger. Veterans Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak make up the third pairing.

Could you improve on this group? Of course, but not easily. The top four are all very mobile and improving with experience. You can focus on the number of shots the Leafs give up and blame the back end, but then you also have to acknowledge that the high number of shots on the enemy goal the Leafs generate is due in some part to the quick puck movement from the defence corps.

In other words, these Leaf blueliners might be more effective than they’re being given credit for. Beyond that, a mobile, elite defenceman capable of playing in their top four — Jacob Trouba? Tyson Barrie? — is going to cost you more than just van Riemsdyk.

The Leafs have more young defencemen coming, notably Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen, and possible left wing assistance on the way in Marlie players like Brendan Leipsic, Kasperi Kapanen, Dmytro Timashov and Kerby Rychel, none immediately capable of replacing JVR’s production.

So it really makes the most sense to keep van Riemsdyk, even if it’s just to let him play out his contract. If he leaves, you don’t lose him for nothing. You gain the cap space after enjoying the benefits of his current contract, and it buys you time for those young left-wing prospects to develop.

This season has changed much about the way we think about the Leafs. At one point, the thought might have been to trade a veteran like van Riemsdyk for more futures. But no more.

Assuming that remains the case, it’s most sensible to keep him. He’s played his way back into the Leafs’ plans.

Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.

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