Toronto Maple Leafs May Have Made Major Mistake With Scott Laughton After Recent Start

General manager Brad Treliving and President of Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan both have their jobs on the line. After yet another disappointing elimination in last year's first round of the playoffs, the team has a lot of pressure to win, and unless they can turn things around, someone will need to pay the price.

Shanahan and Treliving are on the hot seat, so much so that they decided to sacrifice the team's future to win now by trading Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin for a bottom-six center in Scott Laughton and a defenseman in Brandon Carlo.

Minten and Grebenkin were both among the best of the Leafs' prospects, and they were sent away for underwhelming returns.

Over a week after the deadline, it's safe to say that at least one of these acquisitions was a mistake: Scott Laughton isn't an upgrade for the Leafs' lineup.

In three games, he spent an average of 13 minutes on the ice per game on the third line, alongside Max Domi and Bobby McMann.

He hasn't been able to register a point yet and has a -3 rating.

What's sad to consider is the fact that Laughton may be a great leader, but in his career, he was never able to bring offensive contributions to his teams-something the Leafs desperately needed to add before the playoffs.

In his career, the 30-year-old veteran scored 265 points in 664 games. He never reached the 20-goal mark.

It seems Treliving only added someone to add someone, feeling the pressure from fans to make a move even if Laughton is an underwhelming acquisition paid at a hefty price. General managers must add players to make their teams better, not just for the show. This is what Treliving did when he was with the Flames when he signed Jonathan Huberdeau, and this is what he did by trading away two great prospects for two average players.