Toronto Maple Leafs Should Not Trade For Erik Karlsson

Trading for Erik Karlsson seems like a fun idea on paper, but the Toronto Maple Leafs would be crazy to do so.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are already a top heavy team. Year-over-year, the more balanced teams have continued to win, while the Leafs top-heavy approach has only gotten them as far as the second round once.

To date, only one team has won with a player making more than $10 million, and while It’s possible that more team’s will win the Stanley Cup with expensive players, it makes a lot of sense why those team’s with a more balanced budget have been the most successful.

Unless the Leafs are planning on moving away from one of John Tavares or Mitch Marner, trading for Karlsson doesn’t make any sense because you’d be sacrificing way too much of the team.

The Leafs have had to find cheap talent over the past few years, which has worked, but it has yet to get them further than a second round because their depth has been sacrificed by having top-heavy talent.

Toronto Maple Leafs Should Not Pursue Karlsson

Despite winning the Norris Trophy this year, Karlsson should not be a player who the Leafs want to pursue. At $11.5M for the next four years, this contract is going to be one of the worst in the league sooner than later.

Securing a number-one defenseman is hard to find, but Toronto doesn’t need a player who can score 20 goals and 100 points. I know that sounds crazy to believe, but this team has enough offensive talent up-front that can get them win’s.

Karlsson is good defensively, but he’s not someone you think will intimidate the opponent and beat them down in a long playoff series. Instead, he’s going use his offensive talent and unbelievable skating ability to beat you.

The Leafs don’t need a defenseman like that. In a perfect world, Morgan Rielly is their Karlsson equivalent, who can skate like the wind and provide some offense. Instead of looking at an offensively-minded defenseman, the team should be looking at a big-body, grittier defenseman who can play 25-30 minutes per night.

Those players don’t grow on trees either so it may be hard to find, but Karlsson isn’t the answer to winning a Stanley Cup. He’d be a huge help on the blue-line, don’t get me wrong, but this team still needs a legitimate number-one goaltender and better defensive talent if they have any hope of winning next year.

Karlsson would be a fan-favorite and more importantly torment Ottawa Senators fans who used to love him, but he’s not a player that Toronto needs, especially at that price tag. $11.5M can be used in a much more strategic way, so hopefully the Leafs don’t get fascinated with the shiny object in Karlsson.