This seems very short sighted.

I guess Manson is the new Bobby Orr, Sorry Brent Pesce. Who are the Leafs gonna over pay for this time..

First of all it's Brett Pesce and second the Leafs need a decent top pairing d-man so Hainsey isn't playing top pairing minutes. Manson has good possession stats and he's got more offense to his game than Pesce. He's probably one of the cheapest top pair options out there.

I like Toronto and have tried to educate myself about the Maple Leafs, but I'm a SoCal (Kings and Ducks) fan first and foremost (because I live here). I know Josh Manson. I've been able to watch about 95% of his games in the NHL. Make no mistake -- he's a top pairing defenseman with excellent defensive abilities and last year had an offensive break-out. But he's not worth three first-round picks, plus a possibly rebounding Nikita Zaitsev.

Not to mention wildly unbalanced.

Too much or too little?

Too much, sandin is looking better than liljegren and 2 firsts plus a replacement. Leafs are better leaving things alone and letting prospects develop. Certainly keeping draft picks should be part of the plan. I don’t think we even think about trading nylander unless he demands one or someone offers an overpay. I doubt the difference between the cup and an early exit in the playoffs is the difference between zaitsev and Manson.

Too little, and wrongly directed. On the latter point first: Anaheim doesn't need defense, so it makes little sense to exchange Manson for Zaitsev and/or Liljegren and/or draft picks unless Anaheim were robbing Toronto blind. And that's what this deal does, because as I said above, although he's a #1 pair defenseman, he isn't worth 3 first-round pick values plus Zaitsev. What Anaheim needs is a goal-scoring LW, which is also what Los Angeles and Toronto and several other teams need. Next best is A-level prospects at LW, which raises the names of Foegele, Kuokkanen and Saarela (down in Carolina). And speaking of Carolina prospects, there's also Gauthier, Geekie and Zykov. Finally, it wouldn't surprise me to see Anaheim swing a deal for one of their big 4, because it looks like Larsson, Pettersson and Welinski are all NHL-ready. But now we're back to the Nylander trades.

Is Manson that much better Zaitsev? Seems to defeat the purpose of a trade by the Leafs to acquire one starting RHD when trading another. Leafs have no interest in trading Sandin who just might replace Gardiner next year, plus two first first rounders? Way too much for Leafs to give up.
Why is there this fantasy that the the Leafs Dmen are so bad, and they have to sell their souls (well futures) to acquire one?