Leafs deadline trades with NYR and LA

Of all the positions that Leafs don't need help is LW. Zaitsev and Gardiner have allowed the fewest goals even strength per 60 minutes since October 17th in the league. What is fascination with trading Zaitsev for a lesser Dman?

We do need a winger with 2 way ability that has better size and though sound defensively Zaistev is 4th on the depth chart for PP behind Reilly, Gardiner, and Dermott. So though as solid as Muzzin defensively we need more playoff experience and a younger compliment for Reilly though 31 can be the stop gap while Liljegren and Sandin develop. So though you can look at these trades as lateral moves each bring the entanganles this team will need to compete for the Stanley cup.

????. Actually Zaitsev is distant fifth on Leafs PP depth chart. Marner and Reilly have almost exclusive minutes on the points. Even Gardiner is getting a lot fewer minutes than in previous years. Acquiring Muzzin doesn't change the Leafs PP at all.

1st i was talking about where he ranks for the dman and we are not losing in any area getting muzzin but improving all round ability which muzzin can and in playoff experience. Zaitsev needs to get more PP time to earn that contract where Muzzin can fill in everywhere and still produce more in 5v5. So though we may disagree on trading Zaistev there is hopefully no debate that the need more size in the forwards and at no cap increase which Vesey does. Horton though we don't need it for next year with his dead salary on the books next year it hurts in 2020 do to overages so though it may seem steep giving up a 1st right now stops trading skilled players to stay udercap for a few years and allows more cap space to go after a top tier dman in 2020 offseason.

Vesey and Brown are pretty similar players. Both can produce at a third line rate. Doesn't make much sense to swap them when Brown can play RW or LW. Adding a 1st definitely doesn't make sense, Vesey isn't worth a 1st alone. Moving Horton's contract does very little for either teams. He stays on LTIR and Leafs cap isn't affected anyways. Leafs don't need any forward depth, that's their strength already.
I also doubt that a 2nd round pick is enough for LA to take on Zaitsev's contract. He hasn't been good this year but he hasn't been brutal. And it's not really the cap hit that's the issue, it's the fact that he has 5 or 6 years left. If the Leafs are gonna move him, they might have to retain a bit and still give up a bit more