Toronto Maple Leafs Miss Out: Erik Karlsson Traded to Pittsburgh

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have missed out on Erik Karlsson, as recent rumours suggest he has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has landed the NHL’s biggest fish, and it’s a shame that he has done it for Pittsburgh and not Toronto.

Karlsson is a perfect fit for the Penguins – they are a team full of hall of fame superstars hoping for one last glorious run.

Karlsson makes $11 million dollars and is an injury risk, but when he plays he’s the best defenseman in the NHL and is coming off a season in which he won his minutes playing on what would otherwise be the NHL’s worst team.

Oh, and he scored 101 points and led the NHL in 5v5 scoring.

Toronto Maple Leafs Miss Out: Erik Karlsson Traded to Pittsburgh

The deal was announced late Sunday morning.

The Trade follows the structure I suggested the Leafs could follow to get the deal done, which they really, really should have done.

The Leafs could give Brodie and Murray to the Sharks and have them eat $2 million of Karlsson’s contract.  The Leafs then basically get him for free this year and have to pay him $9 million for three years after that.  At most that is costing the Leafs a first rounder, but San Jose saves $36 or so million and eats less than they probably are prepared to.

Kyle Dubas clearly understands the value that Karlsson brings, and there are rumours that he wanted to bring him to Toronto, which now seem to be all but confirmed.

The Leafs could have made the money work by moving Brodie, Murray and even Jarnkrok, but of course, that was before the new GM inexplicably spent $4 million dollars on John Klingberg.

As mentioned previously, the Leafs blue-line is brutal.  Erik Karlsson – last year, or earlier this summer – would have been an amazing pickup, but it’s not to be.

The downside of the Leafs trading for Karlsson would be that his deal has four more years to go and takes him to age 37.  The Penguins will need to rebuild long before that, so they don’t care.

Sidney Crosby is 35 years old. The Penguins want to win now, and have no reason to care about the last two years of Karlsson’s deal.

They will enter the upcoming NHL season as Stanley Cup Favorites.  The Toronto Maple Leafs (as long as they don’t make a really bad William Nylander trade) will also be cup favorites.  The Leafs have elite talent, and if they don’t have the best forward and goaltending situations in the NHL they are very close.

Yeah, their blue-line is horrible, but it’s not like they don’t know this or won’t try to make it better.  That’s for another day, however.  Today, the Penguins have landed the biggest fish in the NHL pond.