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Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Players To Add for Cup Run

By James Tanner

WINNIPEG, MB April 20: Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (37) stops Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (22) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Game 5 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild on April 20, 2018 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg MB. (Photo by Terrence Lee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB April 20: Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (37) stops Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (22) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Game 5 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild on April 20, 2018 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg MB. (Photo by Terrence Lee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
COLUMBUS, OH – APRIL 23: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the Washington Capitals in Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 23, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Artemi Panarin /

Artemi Panarin

Maybe it’s because he came from the KHL and doesn’t have the draft pedigree that NHL fans use to inflate a player’s reputation, or maybe it’s because he plays in Columbus, but most people I talk to don’t seem to understand just how good Panarin is.

Make no mistake: Artemi Panarin is a top-ten  player in the NHL.  He is every bit the peer of Auston Matthews and John Tavares.  In fact, if the Leafs did acquire him, there is no right answer on who the best out of those three is. You could make an argument for each of them.

Artemi Panarin is 26, in his absolute prime and he would make the Leafs offense something north of the ’87 Oilers.

‘But the Leafs need defenseman’ I can hear you say. But do they?  When you are adding a superstar player to your roster, it doesn’t matter what position he plays.  The nice thing about the NHL is that your best players only play 20 minutes per game, so you can have more than a couple star forwards because there is no diminishing returns like there is in basketball where there are only so many touches.

The Leafs could have one of Matthews, Panarin and Tavares on a separate line and essentially destroy teams with a 3 x first line set-up.  If you added Karlsson, he’d have to face top competition. If you added Panarin, he’d have to face third-line competition.  Arguably an extra star forward could give the Leafs a bigger edge than adding the defenseman everyone thinks they need.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should be going hard after Panarin.

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