Quoting: KakkoForMauriceRichardAward
Replace Larsson with Bear and remove the picks and you have a deal
There has to be some semblance of reality though. Trading Bear for Nylander doesn't work because of the incredible imbalance of salary being exchanged.
At some point Toronto needs to decide if it wants to remain a highly entertaining team to watch, or become a legitimate contender. Stay the course with all that high priced offensive talent up front if you don't want to challenge for a cup. However, if you ever want more than simply making the playoffs the Leafs need to improve their defense, and find some help between the pipes.
In this day and age, unless the Leafs can mine some gold among the budget teams, they need to find trades that exchange relatively comparable salary cap hits while addressing their roster needs. Given the talent they have, it is likely some trades are going to look bad to their fans because most GMs aren't going to trade an elite d-man.
Nylander for Larsson is not an equal exchange of talent, but I can see that trade would give the Leafs a RHD shut down guy who has played his entire career as a top-4 d-man, and always been a complimentary partner for more offensively gifted players like Morgan Reilly. The trade also clears close to $2,800,000 of cap space off Toronto's books next season.
No doubt Edmonton would be receiving the much higher profile player, but I'm not convinced they'd be getting the more impactful one. What's more that extra cap space Nylander brings will force Holland into some tough decisions elsewhere in his lineup.
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