Top Insider Reveals if the Toronto Maple Leafs Are Trading for Erik Karlsson
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Erik Karlsson is reportedly on the Pittsburgh Penguins' trading block, and throughout the past few weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been showcasing interest.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team that could use some more offense on the blue line, and as a result, Erik Karlsson has been named as a potential target.
Overall, it feels like that is a pipe dream, for a plethora of reasons. After all, general manager Kyle Dubas has some high expectations for a return.
Having said that, not everyone is convinced that the Maple Leafs will be able to afford a guy like Karlsson in terms of pure assets.
Is Erik Karlsson going to the Toronto Maple Leafs?
This is a fact that was echoed by insider Chris Johnston, who spoke to the Steve Dangle Podcast about the situation involving Karlsson.
He noted that when it comes to the Leafs, the cap hit doesn't make sense, and it would require a Morgan Rielly trade.
The Karlsson thing -- it's a stretch for me. He makes $10M against the cap right now, and I can tell you for certain Pittsburgh is not just giving him away. They're not of a mind of 'we've got to get him off the team'. They're not going to retain half of that for anybody... if you were ever removing Morgan Rielly, maybe I could see the argument to replace him with Karlsson and maybe you can make the money work, but that's two significant trades -- two guys who have no movement clauses. That's very much sitting around in mid-July like 'hey, wouldn't this be kind of cool?', and I'm not sure how much reality is in there.
At the end of the day, general manager Brad Treliving is crafty, but not crafty enough to go out and get someone like Karlsson.
The Maple Leafs need a top-six forward and would be much smarter to spend their assets on that, instead.
For now, fans should forget about Erik Karlsson, as it simply isn't going to happen.
Either way, the rest of the summer is going to be fascinating, and we hope the Leafs continue to make moves.
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