Maple Leafs still paying for one huge Lou Lamoriello mistake
One of former Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello's costly errors of trading a promising young prospect still haunts the Maple Leafs today.
The Florida Panthers are currently battling it out in the Eastern Conference Finals. They have a deep, dynamic group of forwards and former Leaf Carter Verhaeghe has been a huge part of that.
The Leafs traded away their talented young prospect Verhaeghe in a package to the New York Islanders for speedy veteran winger Michael Grabner back in 2015.
At the time, the former 3rd round pick was showing some promise of developing into a legitimate NHLer, but he was nothing out of the ordinary. He did have good numbers in the OHL the season he was traded, as he had 82 points in 68 games for the Niagara IceDogs.
Fast forward to the present day, Verhaeghe is coming off back to back 70-point seasons for the Panthers, is now a 40-goal scorer in the NHL, and currently has an impressive 14 points in 13 games in the post-season for the Panthers in this year's run. Boy, did the Leafs miss out on a a talented forward there - all for just 1 single underwhelming season from Grabner.
Verhaeghe has tallied 249 points in 330 GP in his career, putting him at an average point per game of approximately 62 points per 82 game season. On the flip side, the counter-part of the trade, Grabner, only put up a disappointing 18 points in 80 games.
Obviously, not every decision Lamoriello made in Toronto was bad, but this one, along with the Patrick Marleau deal, might take the cake.
| POLL | ||
MAI 25 | 455 ANSWERS Maple Leafs still paying for one huge Lou Lamoriello mistake Is the Verhaeghe trade the worst Leafs trade in the last 10 years? | ||
| Yes | 160 | 35.2 % |
| No | 83 | 18.2 % |
| I don't know about #1, but it's up there for sure | 212 | 46.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
