As a Leafs fan, I say yes

And as a leafs fan I say no. Why do we need a liability like Faulk. And give up a winger with potential like kapanen and sparks may be our next starter and most likely will be our back up after this season.

You get a RD, not just any RD but one who can play top pair minutes. Moving Hainsey or Zaitzev to the 2nd and 3rd pair makes you so much stronger. Kapanen's dad was a Carolina legend. As for Sparks beong your next starter or future backup, you still have Calvin Pickford with NHL experience. This is a good trade for Toronto, and actually a good trade for both sides

I would move Pickard and keep Sparks. Sparks has been a loyal soldier and deserves to be kept. As for Kappi, I would hate to see him go. I would love to package Levio, Bracco/Brooks. Something like that. My main issue with Faulk is the raise he is going to want. I think the Leafs are better off waiting. At least wait for training camp and see what we have in Holl, Borgman, Rosen, Carrick and Oz.

That is fair, but none of them are going to jump to the top pair. Kapanen would be in a package back to pick up where Sami left off. He isn't going to want that large a raise, max about 1 mil? And with the Leafs current D core, this is more then fair value.

Sparks has been a warrior but for a guy like Faulk, you're gonna have to give up something you don't wanna. You also have 2 #1 C's, and where is Carolina's hole outside of the blue paint? I just think that this deal makes the most sense for both teams

I just feel if I am the leafs I am a lot more interested in Bean, Pesce or Slavin. Faulk would be my last choice, especially if I am moving pieces I dont want too.

If you want Bean Slavin or Pesce, Matthews Marner or Tavares is coming the other way. They are not going to be cheap since they are essential pieces

Then no deal, its that simple.

Okay, Toronto can enjoy getting beat in the first round again

You are actually saying by giving up Marner, Mathews or JT for a defender is going to get us deeper in the play offs!? Are you kidding me.

No, Defense wins Championships. You won't outscore the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning. You need a good D. Giving up 1 of the sick forwards you have for Faulk works. He's not even one of the 6 best. Giving up a 1C for a top 20 D man in Jaccob Slavin? Thats just fair. There can be other assets too obviously but that is what the deal would need to start with

Lets see these teams match up against Mathews line, JTs line and Kadri's line. We basically have a 1A, 1B and a 2 second line going up against the other competition. Im not worried in the slightest. To say defense wins championships you were right with the Blackhawks and the Kings, but they haven't won in three years now and to say Washingtons and Pitsburgs defense was elite is a stretch at best.

Reilly proved last year that he doesn't need a babysitter anymore, he is a top 30 defenseman knocking on the door to be a top 15. If Zaitsev can be healthy, which last seasons injuries werent really his fault, then they are a legit threat on both sides of the ice and can easily be one of the best pairs in the league. Then you can pair Dermott up with Hainsey and Hainsey can babysit Dermott. Who by the way looks like he can make a legit difference this year, he looked GREAT last year with Polak. Then you have a final pairing of Gardiner and Oz/Holl/Carrick. This is not a weak defensive group. If anything it is middle of the pack if not higher. It has youth, speed, offense, good puck movers. Leave it to the coaching staff to fix the defensive gaffs.

Someone said it perfectly today, Torontos offense is so strong they should have possession 60% of every game, this defense is easily good enough to protect that other 40%. I am not worried.

You come up against a Tampa, Nashville Winnipeg or even Carolina where they have 3 reliable D pairs that can shut you down, the leafs are in trouble. Toronto will have a lot of the puck but they are still suspetable to losing games with the pure inconsistency from game to game with Freddy. And if you play Tampa in the 1st two rounds, you will not beat them. I know most teams won't.

The penguins didn't have an elite D. But Maata Letang Schultz. There were some good players. Washington had Orlov, Carlsson, Nisky, Djoos, even Orpik was scoring. They both have 6 solid D men. Hainsey looked like a fringe AHLer at points last season. You need a good defense, or at least middle of the league defense, Toronto's was only worsened by like 3 teams. You need a good RD to stop guys just skaing past Hainsey, Zaitzev and Carrick like they aren't there. A competent D will shut down that explosive offense. Most forwards will backtrack too. You won't win games in this league 10-9, you have to be able to stop opponents, and I know Reilly is good, but see Gardiner game 7. You need improvements, Drastically

Our defence is and will be a team effort. Aside from the fact that Rielly put up 52pts and Gardiner put up 52pts as well (which no other team in the NHL had 2 - 50 point d men) we let go of 3 really big defensive liabilities (JVR, Bozak and Polak) and added Tavares (very good 200ft player) Kapanen (another very good back checker and PK stalwart) along with the maturation of Dermott on the back end.....I'm not worried at all about the defence. Rielly is a very good 2-way D man. Zaitsev will be better and Hainsey is a very good positional player. Gardiner is what he is and I really think Rosen or Borgman or Oz will come out to play this year.

Leafs are going to make a big leap this year with the team D. Book it.

The leafs are going to surprise more than they have the last 3 years. This will not be as big of an issue as everyone thinks. Just wait when the wins start piling up, when teams are struggling to match up against our offensive core, the picture will become more clear. This is a team is WAY stronger than Vegas and Caps were last year.

And Lost in the 1st round!

Defence wins championships enjoy being knocked out in the first round

Dont worry Laynious, this is all he knows how to say. Typical Leaf hater.

I don’t hate the leafs.... I don’t care about the leafs tbh. If the lose in the 1st round, win the cup, or miss all together I couldn’t care less. You’re just being a typical delusional leafs fan and wanting the best pieces a team has to offer without giving an offer to match the value.

Ok, it's fun stats time!!!

Ready??

WSH had a 2.83 GAA last year and 79.4% PK

TOR had a 2.92 GAA and was 80.24% on the PK

VGK was 2.70 and 80.97

Here's the kicker and the most important thing to understand about your tired "defence wins" argument:

The Leafs gave up 33.94 shots per game (this indicates team defence was weak for the Leafs)

VGK - 30.98

WSH - 31.17

So therefore we gave up about 162 more shots then either team and we STILL CAME AWAY WITH 105 POINTS! And with my previous statement about losing weak defensive players and gaining new, better ones....we are in Great position to better our overall team D.

Now please find a better argument then "have fun losing in the first round" garbage. At least we are in the playoffs..........Oh and your defence core is supposedly better then ours and you guys haven't won a thing......so how's that workin out for ya?

Oh it’s fun stats time ready? Carolina have the best shots against average in the league. The next closest was over 100 more. And it was PIT. Carolina with league average goaltending average more points then Washington. They had 108. We found our version of Toskala.

As for what have we won recently..... we have a more recent playoff series win then you do, and as for oh well your in the playoffs. With 1 game remaining the first time and in a season William karlsson scodsd 40, Vegas won the west and the chokers won the cup so.... enjoy!

aaaaaaannnnndddd you still didn't win anything! If you want to get into historical stats I can do it too! Ready? Leafs have 13 Cups all time! Canes have 1!!

(que the "talk to me when your teams win something with more then 6 teams in the league" narrative)

Waiting......

Tell me when you have a post lockout series win. We have 7 and a cup! You have 12 first round losses in 3 different series.....

Dude, WHAT!? Do you even know what you're b*tching about now, or do you just enjoy reading your pissy comments. You make literally no sense. Goodbye, sir.

Bye you delusional bandwagoner!