Maple Leafs Trade Deadline Additions Drop Ball in Playoffs

Heading into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, fans, players, and pundits swore that this version of the Toronto Maple Leafs was different from years past. The Maple Leafs were the top team in the Atlantic Division with a bolstered lineup thanks to key additions ahead of the trade deadline.

Among those key moves were the Maple Leafs adding forward Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins.

Laughton was acquired for a conditional 2027 first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin. Carlo was added for a conditional 2026 first-round pick and prospect Fraser Minten.

With two first-round picks and two prospects out the door, surely the Maple Leafs got their worth in the postseason, right? Not so much.

Laughton didn’t score a single goal in 13 postseason games, including no points in the second round against the Florida Panthers. Carlo is a defenseman, so offense isn’t expected from him. While sharing a line with top defenseman Morgan Rielly, Carlo was a minus-four.

To make matters worse for the Maple Leafs, the Panthers saw their trade deadline additions walk all over them in the second round.

The Panthers added former Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand, and he continued his reign of terror over the Maple Leafs. In seven games, Marchand scored three goals and five assists for eight points and was a plus-six rating.

Defenseman Seth Jones has been ridiculed in recent years as being an over-paid blue liner, but he found solid work in the second round. With four points (2G-2A) in seven games, Jones proved he can still play at a top level.

The Maple Leafs had all of the momentum and hype heading into the playoffs, but after squeaking past the Ottawa Senators, they were not match for the reigning Stanley Cup champions.