Leafs trade Winnik + pick for Laich, Pick and Prospect

[Mike Hunt]

Continuing their trend of making pre-deadline moves, the Leafs have just traded Daniel Winnik and a 5th round pick in 2016 to the Capitals in exchange for Brooks Laich, a second round pick in 2016 and Connor Carrick.

I actually like this deal quite a bit. There's no doubt that Winnik is a better player than Laich at this point in their careers, but I'm not sure the gap is THAT big and they can actually fill similar roles on a losing team, which the Leafs definitely are. In making the trade, the leafs will essentially move up 60 spots in the draft (from an early fifth to a late second. To me, that's already a good deal. On top of that, Carrick isn't a complete dud of a prospect (he's far from blue chip, but he's not useless, at least at the AHL level with more than 1 point every 2 games). He's still young (21) and a reasonably gifted offensive defenseman, just very undersized. He has played in the NHL and I wouldn't be surprised if he at least got a shot with the Leafs.

[whysoserious]

Love the deals the Leafs are making like this one.

Now it's all going to come down to the scouting staff to really nail these picks. The Leafs have flubbed on too many picks too many times. Different regime so hope they pull it out. The good thing is they are loading up on picks which increases the likelihood they at least hit on a few of them.