NHL Trade Deadline Winners and Losers - (The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Losers)

Toronto Maple leafs: The Trade Deadlines Biggest Loser

The Toronto Maple Leafs had an absolutely horrendous Trade Deadline.

Look, the Maple Leafs did not get any worse at the deadline, but they did not get any better.

Brad Trevling kicked things off by overpaying for Ilya Lybushkin, then added Joel Edmundson who are both physical defensemen which the Maple Leafs needed.

But if the Maple Leads were looking to compete they needed to add a quality top-four puck-moving defencemen and neither Lybushkin nor Edmundson are close to that calibre anymore. While they are not worse than what the Maple Leafs already had they are not better either, both of these were lateral moves while all of the top contenders in the conference were making moves to get better.

The final move Trevling made was bringing in Connor Dewar from the Minnesota Wild, this is likely Treviling's fourth-line replacement for Ryan Reaves, but that does not move the needle for this team either.

The Maple Leafs needed to bring in a top-six center to play alongside William Nylander if they wanted to have any hopes of competing with teams as deep as the New York Rangers or Florida Panthers.

The Maple Leafs front office grossly overestimated where its team is at and stood still while all of the other teams they are competing with getting better. As far as I am concerned, with no significant upgrades at the deadline the Maple Leafs secured themselves another early-round playoff exit.

The Leafs will enter the playoffs weak at goalie, with a bad blue-line and without having addressed any of their most pressing needs.