Brad Treliving Biggest Trade Deadline Mistake Is Starting to Take Shape

No doubt the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to make a few deals in order to shore up some big roster holes in their lineup. Not only did they part with prospects Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten, but they also dumped some extra roster pieces to Pittsburgh to clear cap room.

It was a move that wasn't supposed to cause much fanfare, and Kyle Dubas was essentially doing his old team a favor by just taking on some dead money.

Or so we thought.

Since being traded to the Penguins, Conor Timmins has been a man possessed on the ice. In nine games the defenseman has five points (1G, 4A), 4 PIM and is a plus-6 while showcasing his puck-moving ability and much improved defense.

It's a trade that's starting to look a lot like Brad Treliving ended up trading the wrong defenseman.

With how badly Simon Benoit has been recently and the fact that Timmins has suddenly started to pick things up the moment he left Toronto, it feels like the team gave up too early on Timmins and never gave him enough time to flourish, often eschewing him for Benoit in favor of size and grit.

Toronto could certainly use puck moving defenseman as only Morgan Rielly and to an extent Oliver Ekman-Larsson are the true playmakers on the back end, and desperately need some offensive catalyst on the blue line, and Timmins could have sufficed.

But he was never given a chance either in Arizona or Toronto, and this is the most games he's ever played in his career for one season. Combined, he has 13 points in 60 games (3G, 10A), 28 PIM and a plus-eight with Toronto and Pittsburgh, and has shown in the past he can make an impact offensively.

It's a great sign that Timmins is starting to pick things up, as he was never really given a chance to truly shine.

But Toronto's loss is Pittsburgh's gain, and perhaps Kyle Dubas knew what he had all along, and was just waiting for the right time to acquire him once again.