Toronto Maple Leafs: Looking Back at the Panik-Morin Swap

Since his tenure with the Toronto Marlies and Toronto Maple Leafs, Richard Panik has went on to play for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Arizona Coyotes.

In January of 2016, the Toronto Maple Leafs dealt Panik to the Chicago Blackhawks for Jeremy Morin. On paper this wasn’t one of the best trades that the Toronto Maple Leafs had pulled off.

In Toronto, Panik didn’t have a definitive role and the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to cut loose. In . After being dealt to Chicago, he collected 6 goals and 2 assists in 30 games. The following season, Panik had a career high in both goals and assists with 22 each. He collected 4 PPG and 5 GWG.

This season, Panik has been struggling a tad. He played 37 games in Chicago where he collected 6 goals and 10 assists. He was then dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in a trade for Anthony Duclair. Since moving to the desert, he hasn’t been the same. He’s played in 19 games and collected 6 points. In addition, his shooting percentage (S%) is horrific. Currently, he posts a 2.8 S%. That’s not even terrible. That’s disgusting. There’s nothing you can do about that though, sometimes goalies just have your number.  But either Panik is one of the worst shooters in NHL history or he just had some bad luck.

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On the other hand, Morin hasn’t ever played an NHL game since. Lamoriello and Shanahan must have looked at Morin’s junior stats with the Kitchener Rangers in awe and thought he’d be a good in Toronto. Well he wasn’t. After being acquired, he played 13 games for the Marlies. After his 2015-2016 season, he bounced around the AHL and played for the Syracuse Crunch and the Tuscon Roadrunners before packing his bags for the KHL.

Panik Wouldn’t Fit In To The Leafs Lineup Now

All-in-all, Shanahan and Lamoriello didn’t see a long term fit for Panik in Toronto. If Panik was still on the Toronto Maple Leafs today, he’d be sitting in the press box with Paul Romanuk and Josh Leivo. Panik is a solid hockey player, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have plenty of forwards like Panik but better.

The return for Panik wasn’t great and he has developed into an effective NHL player. Morin never played a single game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Let’s be realistic though, the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t going to get much for Panik, and they couldn’t fit him in the lineup.  They took a shot with Morin, but it didn’t work out.

Next: What to do With Auston Matthews

All in all, it’s nice to see that Panik has developed into a good NHL player, but you can’t keep everyone and there really isn’t anything to regret here.  The Leafs traded a player too old to really be a prospect for someone slightly younger when they couldn’t use him anymore. No big deal.

stats from NHL.com and hockey-reference.com