The Toronto Maple Leafs need to stop trading young defensemen

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been lacking a No. 1 defenseman for 20 years, yet they continue to trade every young defenseman who has that kind of potential, as shown when they gave up on Rasmus Sandin and the recent transaction involving Timothy Liljegren.

As it currently stands, the Toronto Maple Leafs defense is an average group, in my opinion. They have a solid core, but overall they don't have a legitimate No. 1 defenseman who can eat up 30 minutes per night. Morgan Rielly was always supposed to be that player, but he's best suited as a No. 2 or No. 3.

Rielly is the best defenseman that the team has also drafted and developed over the past 20 years. The reason he's the best is because the team continues to trade away their up-and-coming talents before they are given a chance.

Since 2019, the Leafs have traded away Sean Durzi, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren, who would should still be in the team's top-six right now. Durzi unfortunately got hurt to start the season, but he's trending into a top-four player, similar to Liljegren and Sandin, give or take.

The Toronto Maple Leafs need to stop trading young defensemen

I never really have an issue when it comes to trading a player because every player can be traded for the right price. I know I just mentioned the Durzi example but it brought Jake Muzzin back in return and I'd do that trade 100 out of 100 times because they recieved immediate help.

It was a win-win trade for both sides because one team traded an expiring asset while another recieved a future prospect to help the system. Although Durzi once again found his way to another team, it was still a good trade for both sides.

Even with the Sandin trade, it kind of made sense because the team recieved a first-round pick in exchange, which turned into Easton Cowan. Sandin was struggling for ice-time with the Leafs, so they shipped him away and got an unbelievable asset, which could turn into a legitimate top-six NHL forward.

However, the Liljegren trade is just silly. Sure, you can talk about how the Leafs shed $3M in salary, but they should not be worried about a salary-dump for a 25-year-old defenseman when there are other players on the roster who they can dump. Ryan Reaves, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok are three players who are making way more than they should and could have been used as dump's instead.

If the Leafs traded Jarnkrok, I feel like they could still have recieved Matt Benning and a 6th round pick. Maybe they wouldn't have got the 3rd round pick as well, but I don't see a world where Jarnkrok isn't fetching something similar as Liljegren.

Liljegren may not have been given a good opportunity here, but he should have. He has less than 200 NHL games under his belt and I think his best hockey is ahead of him. Young right-handed defenseman don't grow on tree's, so in this situation I think the Leafs made a big mistake.