The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to add some offensive punch to their blue line and that might mean trading for someone who used to be one of the most electric defensemen in the entire NHL.
Erik Karlsson has not had a great time in Pittsburgh. Ever since the Penguins acquired him, it was viewed as a way to try and stay above water and not sink to the bottom of the league while still having legends Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on their roster. But now, as we head into the 2025-26 regular season, it seems like the Penguins are one of the only teams in the league actually selling off players for future assets -- and that could mean Karlsson coming back to Ontario, but not to Ottawa.
According to James Murphy of RG Media, the Maple Leafs are looking into Karlsson as an answer to needing more offense from their blue line.
"“There’s more than just hearsay when it comes to the Leafs and Erik Karlsson right now,” an NHL source told RG recently. “There’s probably going to be salary retained, but the thought that there’s some kind of bad blood between Dubas and the Leafs still that would prevent something like this is crazy. This is a business, and if there’s enough interest from both teams and they figure out the cap hit and money, then that’s all that matters.”"
While Karlsson is several years removed from being one of the most electric talents we have ever seen when it comes to defensemen leading a team's offense, he hasn't necessarily been completely lost. In his last two seasons with the Penguins, he has played all 164 games and has scored 22 goals and a total of 109 points. Plus, it was just three years ago where Karlsson scored 101 points in his last season with the San Jose Sharks.
The 35-year-old blueliner has two years left on a contract that carries a $10 million AAV, so as the report states, there will need to be some salary retained. The Maple Leafs have just over $4.9 million available in cap space -- if the Penguins feel comfortable even retaining a quarter of Karlsson's remaining salary and the Leafs send someone like a Max Domi or David Kampf back to Pittsburgh in the deal, the trade can work financially.
One major point of contention is obviously former Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas now running the show for the Penguins and if there is some remaining resentment that will keep him from doing this deal. Murphy later writes in his report that Dubas should oversee any personal matters and if Toronto is able to offer the best deal for the player, business is business and that should work out.
The Maple Leafs are clearly trying to lessen the offensive burden on Morgan Rielly, as the sole provider of anything but defense on the blue line currently. Toronto has a lot of solid players at the back, but no one that can consistently provide offense -- and certainly no one even close to providing the same amount of offense as Karlsson could potentially.
Head coach Craig Berube should certainly feel comfortable having the pairing of Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo continue, and then putting someone like defensive stalwart Jake McCabe next to Karlsson, so that the eventual Hall-of-Fame defenseman can run rampant.
If it's not Karlsson, the Maple Leafs have previously been linked to New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton to provide the same thing to this roster.