Oilers and Leafs might make trade - morons weigh in

TSN has an article up about the possibility of a trade between the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I’ll save you the read and explain that it is about the Leafs picking up one of the Oilers’ bad contracts (in this case Moreau) if Edmonton throws in a draft pick.

…and as usual the discussion in the “it’s your call” section is filled with comments that are probably causing you brain damage as you read them.

Allow me to recap 90% of the comments:

Comment type #1:
“WHY WOULD THE LEAFS TRADE FOR A WASHED UP OLD PLAYER LIKE MOREAU!!!!1  THE LEAFS SHOULD BE TRYING TO GET (draft picks/prospects/younger) NOT PICKING UP OLD PLAYERS LIKE THIS!!!!”

Comment type #2:
“WHY WOULD THE OILERS TRADE A DRAFT PICK!!!!!111  THEY SHOULD BE TRADING THEIR BAD CONTRACTS AND USELESS PLAYERS FOR DRAFT PICKS!!!!1″

Comment type #3:
“We don’t want/need players like Moreau.  The Leafs should trade (names of random crap players) for (name of Edmonton’s best player)”

Comment type #4:
“If the Leafs trade (player) it would need to be for a first round pick from Edmonton”

So… rather than post a response to any specific comment (feel free to go there yourself and bask in the warm glow of stupid that radiates off the page though) I’ll address all of the comments in one concise post:

1. The Leafs don’t give two shits who the overpriced player is in these trades they are kicking around with other teams - all they care about is the draft pick that the other team is willing to include if the Leafs take the contract off their hands.
2. The Oilers are looking to free up cap space to acquire other player.  Trading a bad contract and a draft pick might give them the financial flexibility to add another player throught trade or free agency.  They don’t trade their bad contracts or washed-up players for picks/prospects/stars because the GMs of the other teams aren’t the level of numbskulls you find posting in “it’s your call”, so none of them would make those trades.Again - these trades are about cap relief for the team dumping the player, and draft picks for the Leafs - those are the only two factors that matter in the discussion.
3.  See item one about how little it matters who the actual NHL player is.  Secondly, writing a comment like “Why wouldn’t Team X trade (name of talented young player) for the long dead corpse of John Kordic?”* is a clear sign that you’re a delusional idiot.
4. The Oilers are essentially a lock for a lottery pick this year, so there is ZERO chance they are going to trade away their first round pick unless someone is sending them back one hell of a top-level player.**

* Plus Kordic was with the Oilers farm system, not the Leafs when he died in a cocaine-fueled brawl with police at a Quebec hotel, so presumably his trading rights would still belong to Edmonton anyway.

** This is very different from the Kessel trade since Toronto was getting back a first line talent, and (wrongly) felt pretty sure they weren’t going to be at the bottom of the league the next season.