The mistake that the Leafs made at the deadline that nobody is talking about

The Toronto Maple Leafs, all things considered, had a better deadline in 2021-22 than they did one year earlier. I mean, sure.. that bar was set pretty low with the Foligno deal, mostly due to the fact that he was playing at around 60% or less for much of his time in Toronto, but also because Foligno ended up walking for nothing, giving the Leafs just 11 games for the 1st and two 4th rounders they gave up to get him.

Fast forward a year and change and the Leafs not only got plenty of quality hockey from Mark Giordano, who undoubtedly made the Leafs a better team both in the regular season and in the playoffs, but they were also able to retain Gio for two more seasons at a significant discount. What's more is that the Leafs also got Colin Blackwell in the trade with Seattle and they did not have to trade any first round picks in the deal, surrendering just a pair of 2nd rounders and a 3rd rounder.

However, plenty of Leafs fans do have one issue with how the Leafs carried themselves at the deadline. They insisted on getting Jake Muzzin back into the lineup for just six regular season games to end the season rather than sticking him on LTIR and utilizing the $5.625M in cap relief to add one or two more impact players. Would it have changed the result of the Tampa series? Maybe.. who knows? What it would have done for certain though was give the Leafs some additional options and improve the quality of their depth, which actually could have been the difference given the fact that depth scoring was an issue in the series.

Kyle Dubas was very clear in that he did not want to go about his business dishonestly and LTIR Muzzin simply because nobody would ask questions after Muzzin suffered a pair of concussions in close proximity. He wanted to approach the deadline with more integrity than that, and also provide Muzzin with an opportunity to get a running start at the end of the season to find his sea legs before the playoffs began. In that sense, he was on the right track, as Muzzin did look good in the series against Tampa, but in many other ways, he did not give his team the edge that he could have by simply holding Muzzin out for precautionary reasons and bringing in a couple of additional bodies like Andrew Copp and Nick Paul - two players who are currently both still active in the postseason for the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively.


Is it revisionist history? Sure, maybe. But it's also logical and would have made sense for the Leafs at the time. It would have cost the Leafs additional assets of course, but with the window currently wide open, I don't think anyone would have given Dubas the gears for truly going all-in for a legit chance at a Stanley Cup.