The Maple Leafs made a surprising trade for Nick Paul and it fits their plan perfectly

The Toronto Maple Leafs stole a key player from a division rival acquiring Nick Paul from Tampa Bay but it came at a very surprising cost.

John Chayka must have mixed Red Bull in with his espresso this morning considering he's been on the go since even before free agency opened up. He traded Nick Robertson, and then proceeded to sign Sergei Bobrovsky, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Duhaime, and Jack Roslovic.

He then decided to add some more grit and depth with Zac MacEwan, but it was his latest move that surprised a lot of people.

Toronto shocks everyone by trading Dennis Hildeby to the Tampa Bay Lightning

Chayka and the Maple Leafs have acquired Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nick Paul in exchange for goaltender Dennis Hildeby, a 2027 4th-round pick, and a 2028 3rd-round pick:

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Paul, 31, is a Mississauga native who had 15 points in 51 games last season for the Lightning while adding 32 PIM and 75 hits; he has 214 points and 748 hits in 537 games spent with the Senators and the Lightning - so he's quite familiar with the Maple Leafs.

The surprise here is that Hildeby is gone considering he was expected to be a big part of the future going forward but the emergence of Artur Akhtyamov and the drafting of both Juuso Ainasto and Patriks Plumins has made him expendable especially with Bobrovsky now locked down as #1.

Toronto gets even more defensively sound with Nick Paul while also adding one an old nemesis

Now, Paul is not someone who will be lighting the lamp and it is a head-scratcher on the surface but Toronto has followed a consistent theme this offseason which is getting flat out tougher to play against. Paul is a pest at times but disciplined, and he knows how to get under his opponents' skin without being a liability.

Oh, and in the 2021-22 Eastern Conference first round, Tampa Bay dispatched Toronto by a 2-1 score. The only one to score for the Lightning? Paul.

He comes with three years left on his deal with a $3.15-million cap hit which has now put Toronto into the negatives when it comes to cap space though there are still likely several more moves to come from John Chayka and his crew.

Also read on Hockey Patrol :
Free agency just opened and the Maple Leafs already landed Jack Roslovic