Okay 2 things here

1) Jake Gardiner is the left handed version of Faulk so the trade would be 1v1 adding Leivo and a 1st is a gross overpayment. Also Carolina has a stacked left side of their defence. They don't need Gardiner.

2) They just signed Tavares, why not wait to see how the lineup plays as is before wasting assets on fixing perceived flaws.

Haven't you shown by this roster that is really cap "unworkable". You're three player short . What is fascination that many Leafs fans with RHD. Just because they should right handed doesn't make them good players.
Highly unlikely Gardiner signs a UFA contract or even an extension without a NTC.
Agree with Logan. Let's see how Carrick, Ozhinoko, Holl work out this season on the right side before overpaying for another 3rd pairing Dman at least defensively.

I see a lot of Leafs AGM's want to bring Faulk in. I don't know why. He's expensive and has other shortcomings, too. If I were to covet an RD from Carolina, it would be Roland McKeown, not Justin Faulk.

You Leafs cognoscenti have to explain to me why Jake Gardiner is so valuable. (I don't see many Toronto games out here in L.A.) I've been assuming he'll come off the books in 2019 and leave more room to re-sign Matthews, Marner and Kapanen.

Faulk is an upgrade from Gardiner, hands down and he plays the right side which the Leafs are clearly weak on as of now. Sure there's help coming in a couple years but the time to win is now and they can afford to give up a very late 1st round pick in my opinion.
Perceived flaws??? I'm pretty sure Jake and that right side of the defense is an obvious flaw and has been for years.

Faulk would not be my first choice but he's on the trade block so he wouldn't cost as much as others. He had a terrible year for his standards but on a good team, he should bounce right back. The player I wanted to trade for was Trouba but the way this armchair GM works, it wouldn't let me do it because he's an RFA this year. I think he should be the real target but will cost much more than Faulk.

They finished with the 12th best defence last year. Tavares makes them a better team this coming season than last years squad. So if we improve on a 12th place finish and move into the top 10 best defensive teams, that'll be great right there. On top of that, our offense is going to be insane this year. So the Leafs will be scary without a single move.

As for Faulk being way better than Gardiner, who scored more points last year? Over their career, Faulk has 12 more points in 12 less games. Faulk has been a plus player 1 time in his career while Gardiner is coming off a season where he was plus 24. Gardiner is known as an elite puck mover who's gambles can sometimes hurt their team. He's also soft in the corners and isn't overly good at boxing out players.

Faulk is known as an elite level puck mover who's gambles sometimes hurt his team and he's also not great in his own end.

So they are the same player, the only difference is the hand they shoot with. So Faulk isn't an upgrade, its taking a problem and moving it to the other side of the ice at the cost of a good defencemen in Gardiner and a 1st round pick. I likely wouldn't have an issue if it was Gardiner for Faulk straight up or even Gardiner and Leivo for Faulk, but far better trades can be made that'll cost less and help the Leafs a lot more.

How am I 3 players short????

Sure they gave up the 12th fewest goals but that's because they had one of the best goalies in the game. They also gave up the 4th most shots per game and looked lost in their own end. I do agree that with Tavares coming in and also Bozak and JVR leaving, our offense has gotten way better defensively and I do think it will make a big difference.
Plus minus is a useless stat for the most part, although Gardiner's -5 in game 7 was pretty telling as to how he played that game. I may have overpaid slightly in that trade but Faulk also has 1 extra year on his current contract over Gardiner and it's at a decent value.
I'm still hopeful they can somehow get Trouba out of Winnipeg.

I am not at all worried about the D, I think this squad will be scary this year and what they need in defence is just better skaters. Reilly is great and Dermott looks really good too. Personally I think Carrick is hugely under rated. The guy just gets to where he needs to be and makes safe decisions. Also is by far the best at suppressing shots.

As for allowing the most shots in the league, that's not really a telling stat. The Leafs had a major edge in high percentage scoring chances last season. So maybe they looked a tad scrabbly and maybe they allowed a lot of shots, but they allowed a tonne of shots from the outside.

Does it really have too be explained when your roster shows 20, and has 684,000 to spend.

In fairness, you only need to have a 20man roster to start the year...but I don't think anyone carries less than 21. Last year the leafs carried 22 for the most part with Martin and Carrick/Polak in civilian clothes each game. But this roster needs about $1m more in cap space to get 2 bench players

In the roster posted, Horton has got full cap relief of 5.25m. The 20 player minimum was really put so a LTIR player could be put on the opening day roster, and if cap compliant the team could pay it's Performance Bonuses in a the same year. I think the Leafs opening day roster this October will show this "LTIR clause." The Leafs and all teams carry. 14F, 7 D, 2 G for a total of 23 (three in press box( almost exclusively during the season. At Christmas break and all star break they might send a non waiver player to the AHL.

haha...the LTIR and PB issue is a whole other can of worms.

A lot of leaf fans are impatient now and want to make more financial commitments to bring in more immediate help. Every dollar is going to count now and I can't see another big contract being added before the 2020-21 season when Marleau comes off the books unless they move out Marner or Nylander.

Even when Marleau comes off the books, it doesn't mean the Leafs can wild spend either. Hoping that players like Dermot and Liljgren are deserving of raises because of their stellar play.