NHL Trade Rumors: Maple Leafs Would Be Foolish to Acquire No. 1 Draft Pick

The Toronto Maple Leafs would be foolish to trade for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft and in the process give up a talented young player to acquire that first selection.

Here is a recent rumor from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun that addresses the Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers' top pick:

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Apparently, the Maple Leafs want to move up in the draft and Edmonton may want to move its No. 1 pick. A deal, one that could involve Luke Schenn, is not out of the question here.

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Leafs general manager Brian Burke cannot afford to trade some of his young talent or future draft picks for the chance to take Nail Yakupov, or any player for that matter, with the top pick. Toronto has too many holes to fill on their roster to make this kind of move.

If they do make a trade involving their fifth overall pick, the Leafs should move down, not up in the draft. They can get some more value for their first round selection and still draft a talented young defenseman, which they desperately need, by moving down into the 10-20 pick range.

Trading Luke Schenn, who is one of the team's only young defenseman with promise, along with Jake Gardiner, would be an awful idea. Schenn is a fine young player, and at 22, he will continue to develop into a top-tier defenseman.

Burke has shown us before that he isn't scared of making a blockbuster trade if it will help his team, but if he makes one of those deals this summer, it needs to be for a star goaltender like Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, or an established No. 1 center that has proven himself, such as Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Leafs cannot afford to have another big trade end up hurting them over the long term. The Phil Kessel trade with the Boston Bruins has already proven to be a bad trade for Toronto, and if Dougie Hamilton becomes the superstar defenseman he's capable of being, that deal could go down as one of the worst of all-time.

For the Leafs to end their playoff drought as soon as possible, they cannot afford to move up to the No. 1 pick in the draft and select Yakupov. It's not worth it and could end up hurting the team long-term. It's a risk that Burke must not take.

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