The Toronto Maple Leafs finally got their guy. The Leafs, who have been desperately searching for help on the defensive side, acquired Jake Muzzin from the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in exchange for forward Carl Grundstrom, the rights to defenseman Sean Durzi and Toronto's first-round pick in 2019. Muzzin, 29, will add much-needed depth to Toronto's defensive corps (specifically the right side), which has been plagued by issues this season. The Leafs ranked fourth in goals allowed but have surrendered the ninth-most shots in the league to this point in the season. Their defensive struggles have largely been softened by great goaltending from Frederik Andersen and their offensive production. But as general manager Kyle Dubas tries to prepare this team for a serious playoff run, the addition of Muzzin should be a big help. Muzzin was originally drafted 141st overall by the Penguins in 2007 but went unsigned and eventually inked an entry-level contract with the Kings in 2010. He went on to become a key piece of their defensive unit and averaged over 23 minutes of ice time during the Kings' Stanley Cup run in 2014. This season, his eighth in the league, he has four goals and 21 points in 50 games. With a left-handed shot, Muzzin isn't an ideal candidate for the right side, but he's a very good player at a solid price contractually ($4 million AAV) and is signed through 2020. Although he's not the elite caliber defenseman that many were speculating the Leafs would target, Muzzin is a significant upgrade that comes without Dubas having to give up roster players in addition to the first-round pick, which should be a late first-rounder anyway. On the Kings' side, they'll shed Muzzin's salary while adding an additional first-round pick to their rebuild efforts. Grundstrom, 21, was a second-round selection in 2016 and has 13 goals and 29 points in 42 games with the AHL's Toronto Marlies this season. Durzi, who has yet to be signed to an ELC, was a second-round pick of the Leafs last summer.<doc-sep>LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 13: Jake Muzzin #6 of the Los Angeles Kings during warm up before the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Staples Center on November 13, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) The latest NHL trade saw the Los Angeles Kings begin the purging of their roster by trading defenseman Jake Muzzin to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Los Angeles Kings came into this season with everyone knowing they had a “best if used by” date. Just like a gallon of milk, this date was coming sooner rather than later. What everyone didn’t know is the date has likely already come and gone. The Kings are among the worst teams in the league. They began what might well be a purging of their roster by trading Jake Muzzin to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is a rare trade which makes sense for both sides. Both sides could wind up being the winner here. Let’s take a look at how each team did. Kings Overall, the Kings did very well in this trade. They got an extra first-round pick for Muzzin, which is something they wanted all along. If you ignore J.T. Miller, Vladislav Namestnikov, and a conditional draft pick, the Kings basically got the same return the New York Rangers got for Ryan McDonagh in 2018. The first prospect they got in the deal is Carl Grundstrom. He’s a skilled guy who plays with a lot of grit. Grundstrom is similar to Brad Marchand, in that he’s a pain in the butt to play against. He loves to agitate and get under his opponent’s skin. Grundstrom, though, was going to be at best a top-nine forward for the Leafs. Certainly not a top-six forward. With the Kings, he might be able to be a top-six forward. They also received right-handed defensive prospect Sean Durzi. It’s worth noting he’s an overager, which is why he went in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft. That said, Durzi’s numbers this year have been pretty darn impressive regardless of his age. He has 28 points in 26 games combined between the Guelph Storm and Owen Sound Attack. Ultimately, the Kings didn’t get one of the Leafs big prospects, so this trade is a tad bit disappointing. But Grundstrom and Durzi are two really nice prospects who have NHL potential. What they do with their extra first-round pick will determine how this trade is viewed in a few years. Grade: B+. Might be willing to raise this to an A- depending on what other deadline trades get. Maple Leafs Hats off to Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas. He got his team the defenseman they desperately needed at a relatively low cost. All fans have heard is how it would cost the Maple Leafs someone like William Nylander, Andreas Johnsson, or Kasperi Kapanen to get a huge upgrade to their defense. Dubas did it without giving up any roster players or even top five prospects. If you really want to get nitpicky, Muzzin isn’t right-handed, so the Leafs now have five left-handed defensemen. That said, give me five really good left-handed defensemen over four really good lefties and a merely OK rightie. What’s important is Muzzin can play on the top pairing and on his offside. Both he and Morgan Rielly have experience playing on the right side. The Leafs have major issues on their right side, so it would make all the sense in the world to have one of those two guys on the right side. Grade: A Want your voice heard? Join the Puck Prose team! Write for us! Verdict Ultimately, the Leafs appear to be the winners here. They got Muzzin without having to pay an asinine price. However, the Kings still got a nice return for him. In fact, it was better than I thought it would be. Most of my concerns about the trade are really nitpicky. And if you have to get nitpicky to hate on a trade, that’s a good sign it’s a good trade for both sides.<doc-sep>There had been rumours and speculation bubbling around the Los Angeles Kings since the opening weeks of the season. There was certainly enough in the air for Jake Muzzin to know he was a prime candidate to be moved before the Feb. 25 trade deadline. But Monday’s news still came as a major shock to the system. Four weeks out from the deadline, and in the middle of the Kings’ CBA-mandated bye period, Muzzin was blindsided by the deal that sent him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a shrewd bit of business on both sides that may offer a hint of what’s to come in a distinct buyer’s market. Typically, we’d expect a team with an asset as appealing as Muzzin to hold on as long as possible, hoping to conduct an 11th Hour auction with competing bids. Kings GM Rob Blake instead chose to set a price and pull the trigger once it was met, understanding that there’s no guarantee the return would improve at a time when so many other appealing names are floating around the market. “I think once we understood the parameters of the deal, at least from our side we were comfortable doing it here today,” Blake told reporters on Monday night. Now, he had a little extra impetus to act boldly. The Kings are unexpectedly hovering in “Lose for Hughes” territory, and prepared to endure the emotional exercise of shedding the final vestiges of their Stanley Cup teams. Blake has other business to conduct before this year’s deadline — with Alec Martinez, Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter among his pieces still potentially in play — and couldn’t count on leaving everything to the final hour. Hence the appeal of trading Muzzin for Toronto’s 2019 first-round draft pick, plus prospects Carl Grundstrom and Sean Durzi, right now. That’s a fair haul for a retooling organization. What Blake’s colleagues with assets to sell have to be asking themselves today is whether they would be wise to adopt a similar position. No one has a crystal ball that can say exactly how the market will play out, but there are only so many teams that can be labelled buyers this season, and of those teams there are even less that own a first-round pick in 2019 and might be willing to part with one. First-rounders tend to be standard fare in deals that include a big fish, and we can now strike Toronto off the list of teams with one to dangle. The one thing that’s become apparent in conversations with NHL executives in recent weeks is that many are bracing for a busy trade period. By sheer name value alone there’s a lot of possibility, with Wayne Simmonds, Artemi Panarin, Derick Brassard, Matt Duchene, Kevin Hayes, Sergei Bobrovsky, Mats Zuccarello, Jakob Silfverberg, Micheal Ferland and possibly Mark Stone among those available on the rental market, plus Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Colton Parayko and a long list of other attractive players with term still on their deals. Viewed from 10,000 feet, it looks like supply will wind up outstripping demand. As attitudes towards asset management evolve and with the perceived value of late-season trades coming under more scrutiny, there are fewer teams than ever sitting on the fence and making these decisions based on what happens on the ice in the two weeks before the deadline. We’ve already heard Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, for example, rule himself out of the rental market altogether — something that never would have happened five years ago from someone in charge of a team likely to remain on the playoff bubble into early April. The prevailing winds would seem to incentivize making deals well before the 3 p.m. ET deadline on Feb. 25, lest you risk seeing the market disappear and get left holding an asset you’d rather have turned into futures. (Side note: I’m acutely aware that continued activity in the weeks ahead will make for an uncomfortable 10 hours of live TV on Sportsnet’s Trade Deadline show). For the most part, the buyers are happy to get down to business early, too. Only those who need to save every last day of cap space are likely in favour of taking things down to the wire. The Leafs, for example, will get Muzzin for the last 33 regular-season games this season rather than just 20 had they waited until Feb. 25. “When we’re talking about trades of this nature I think the longer that you can have the player for, the better,” Toronto GM Kyle Dubas told reporters. “And I think especially coming back from the [all-star and bye week] break it makes it a little bit easier than if we were just immersed into a full schedule. “It gives Jake a couple days with his family to kind of get a little bit organized. This is kind of a life-changing thing, of course.” Dubas went on to call it “serendipitous” that everything fell in place right now. Given the certainty it guarantees both buyer and seller, and the extra time it provides the player to get used to his new surroundings, we may be seeing more serendipity soon.<doc-sep>
LOS ANGELES -- The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired defenseman Jake Muzzin from the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night for a first-round pick and two prospects, bolstering their blue line with a Stanley Cup-winning veteran. Los Angeles gets forward Carl Grundstrom and the rights to unsigned defenseman Sean Durzi in the deal, along with a first-round pick in 2019. Muzzin is a steady veteran defenseman signed through next season at a salary cap hit of $4 million. The blue line has been Toronto's biggest weakness this season, and Muzzin could be a top-four defenseman for the Leafs, perhaps fitting in their top pairing with Morgan Rielly. "The key is his ability to play at the top end of our defense, play in all situations, play against the other team's top players," Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas said. "He's proven himself over a good career now to be able to move the puck, to excel at playing against high-quality competition and to contribute offensively." The 29-year-old Muzzin has four goals and 17 assists in 50 games this season, struggling at times along with his teammates in the last-place Kings' miserable year. "I was a little shocked to get the phone call," Muzzin said. "You hear rumblings and rumors and stuff like that and you just continue on with your ways until it actually happens and everything sinks in. Very excited to join Toronto." His departure is the biggest sign yet that general manager Rob Blake is willing to reboot the roster of a club with just one playoff victory in the past four seasons since its second Stanley Cup title. The Kings (20-26-4) sit last in the Western Conference with 44 points from 50 games. "I think we're in a position where we're looking up every day at the standings," Blake said. "We're not happy about where we are. We're not comfortable with where we are, and now we have to make decisions for the best of the organization going forward." After going undrafted in 2009 and signing with Los Angeles as a free agent, Muzzin played his way into a steady NHL career with the Kings. He was a key contributor during their run to the 2014 title, scoring 12 points in 26 playoff games. Muzzin struggled through the 2016-17 season with 28 points and a minus-21 rating, but he bounced back last season with a career-high 42 points. Blake thinks Muzzin will handle the transition to the Eastern Conference easily after a career in the West. "I think he's an elite defenseman," Blake said. "He's going to bring the physical aspect, but he has poise and patience to make plays. I think the adjustment will come naturally for him because he is a top defenseman." Grundstrom, 21, was a second-round pick in 2016 and has 29 points in 42 games with Toronto's AHL affiliate this season. The 20-year-old Durzi, a second-round pick last year, has 28 points in 26 games this season in the Ontario Hockey League. Blake said the Kings like Durzi's offensive abilities.