Mrazek Trade Robbed Leafs of D-Man at Worst Time

The Maple Leafs pulled the trigger on the Petr Mrazek deal four years back, shipping out a blue-liner who could have anchored their defense right when the wheels fell off. Front offices still whisper about how that move left Toronto exposed in the playoffs, chasing stability on the back end. GMs around the league point to it as a classic case of short-term thinking biting hard in the long run, with the stakes never higher than now.