Erik Karlsson Trade Should Frustrate Every Toronto Maple Leafs Fan

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Kyle Dubas continued to show that he’s one of the best executives in hockey this week with the acquisition of Erik Karlsson.

MLSE should have fired Brendan Shanahan for how he treated Kyle Dubas’ departure from the Toronto Maple Leafs and I truly hope that the Pittsburgh Penguins have a successful season now as a result.

Throughout his tenure as GM of the Leafs, Dubas was never afraid of making a big move to improve the roster. I know that he stayed true to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander, but all four of those players could end up in the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.

Matthews won a Hart Trophy, Marner was the best right-winger in hockey for two years, Tavares is a point-per-game player and Nylander just had 40 goal season. If you had four of those player’s on your fantasy hockey team, you’d win every year, but unfortunately fantasy hockey doesn’t relate to the NHL, and that’s not all Dubas’ fault.

You need to be very lucky to win a Stanley Cup and sometimes it just doesn’t work out, despite having a very good team because only one team can be victorious each year.

After winning their first playoff series in 19 years, Dubas’ job felt safe, especially after the Ryan O’Reilly trade and other additions at the NHL Trade Deadline. However, by all reports, Dubas got a little cute with his requests during negotiations for his next contract and it backfired. Shanahan felt threatened and ultimately let him go.

It obviously didn’t take long for Dubas to find another job and now that he’s settled in Pittsburgh, he’s gotten to work, quickly.

Toronto Maple Leafs Never Should Have Fired Dubas

The Penguins are in a somewhat similar fashion to Toronto, yet their stars are much older. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are all in their mid 30’s and only have a few years left, so Dubas decided to make a monster move to give them their best chance at another Stanley Cup, by acquiring Erik Karlsson via trade.

Toronto’s stars are much younger, but their contract status is much more uncertain since Matthews and Nylander have yet to re-sign. For all we know, this could be the last year we see both player’s in a Leafs jersey.

So instead of going all-in, Brad Treliving signed Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg. Those four players are fine, but they don’t give you the ceiling that Karlsson gives you. He’s a Norris Trophy defenseman who will instantly make the Penguins better and the Leafs could’ve given the Sharks a similar trade package if Dubas was still in-charge.

It feels like Shanahan’s spite will cost the Leafs this season and it’s going be one of the worst moves in team history to let Dubas walk. Not only did Dubas want to be here, but he’s one of the smartest and youngest executives in hockey and those aren’t the type of people you want to lose.

We all could have been eating at a Michelin star restaurant in Yorkville with Dubas every night but instead we’ll be stuck eating at Boston Pizza this season, which is a huge downgrade.

If the Leafs fail to get the job done this year, it better mean the end to Shanahan’s tenure in Toronto.