Former GM Says Leafs Are One Piece Away From a Stanley Cup, But it's Not a Centre

Despite reports that the Leafs' top trade targets are centres, former NHL executive and Leafs GM Brian Burke believes that should not be their top priority.

Burke was on 'Leafs Morning Take' on Thursday and revealed the one piece he believes the Leafs need to add to give them an ideal lineup going into the playoffs.

Thankfully, Tanev's injury was not as bad as initially feared with the defenseman listed as 'day-to-day' and unavailable on Friday.

Burke's comments may come as a surprise to some who believe the Leafs do need to prioritize a 3C at the deadline, given how much money Treliving poured into the blueline in the off-season.

However, as we have seen in the past, teams often need 8-9 defensemen to make it through a deep playoff run and without Jani Hakanpaa, and the trio of Simon Benoit, Conor Timmins and Philippe Myers only sporadically playing good hockey at the same time, having a more reliable and stable defenseman on the third pair could do wonders for the Leafs.

With just over a week until the deadline, action is expected to pick up and Leaf fans will be anxiously waiting for Treliving and the Leafs to finally pull the trigger on a significant move or two.