Maple Leafs trade out of first round to erase another mistake

Kyle Dubas has now spent a first-round pick to eliminate a problem for a second time in four years. Only in moving back in the draft to cut ties with Petr Mrazek on Thursday night, he was erasing his own mistake.

Video Transcript

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Finally, I have to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a loser tag because the troubling optics. They follow New York and they follow the Leafs. They've now traded away a first round pick to erase boat-anchor contract for the second time in three years, four drafts.

The first time it was to clean up someone else's mess. This time, it was to clean up Kyle Dubas' mess. Less than a year ago, the ink still dry on the contract with Peter Mrazek, three years almost $4 million a season. It proves to be untenable in less than a year. And it costs the Leafs only 13 draft slots.

So there's a lot of people praising Kyle Dubas for being able to get rid of this $3.8 million. Important-- incredibly important because of his mistake, though. Incredibly important to do. That they only move 13 draft slots in a trade with Chicago, and a lot of people are questioning Chicago's role in this because, did they quite get market value?

Well, it doesn't really matter because you're just a living, breathing entity that can take on money to move up 13 spots because why not? It doesn't hurt you in any way. But a necessary evil for the Leafs to get rid of Mrazek and 100% of his salary. And they moved to number 38 overall.

So they'll be picking in the second round. They've had great success picking in the second round. But the fact of the matter is despite the franchise being confident in its draft process, perhaps not convinced with the players that were gonna be available to them, maybe convinced they can get a top 15 selection at number 38 overall, it's a move that carries a negative expected value and it was a move required because-- [CLEARS THROAT] excuse me, because they made an unforced error last summer.

So if you're looking at this draft night as a vacuum, winners and losers on day one of the NHL draft, in a vacuum, the Leafs gave away a first round pick and got back nothing. Now, that's not really the right way to look at it because, of course, they're gonna be able to choose 13 slats later in the second round, Friday morning. They may hit a home run. They've done it in the past.

But if you look at it in the winners and losers of night one, the NHL Draft, you have to put Toronto in the loser category because they just gave away an asset. The Leafs have also only drafted once in the first round over the last four years at the NHL Draft. It's a troubling pattern. This is not what teams that are sustainably good do.

You see the same teams over and over make picks and add players into their system on an annual basis. And it's something that has eluded this team, like getting capable goaltending, like getting a capable line, and like getting proper support for their core four players. Good and bad.

Should be pointed out that the Oilers stomached a similar cost-cutting measure, finding the other team that's willing to take on salary, the Arizona Coyotes. They stashed Zack Kassian on the Coyotes. Gave up two draft picks, I think a second and third rounder, and moved back three spots in the first round.

Now, this is a loser move, too. They could be losers here. If I wanted to add a third, I guess it would be the Oilers. I don't really feel compelled to defend it. But I add the Leafs over the Oilers, even though some measures say that the Oilers did worse in this regard because in order to rectify their unforced error-- which was made a couple of years ago. I guess that has some sort of bearing here-- but the Oilers did get a prospect tonight in Reid Shaffer.

And I think one other small thing that should be taken into account is when they gave up draft picks it was in future drafts. So it helps fit the Oilers timeline just a little bit. I mean, we're talking about players that might be available five, six years down the road when it's clear the Oilers have to do their winning in the next one, two, three, four years. So I guess that's one little silver lining for Ken Holland for his loser-worthy move.