Toronto Maple Leafs Add Defenseman John-Michael Liles

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke is always active around this time of year. And he was just ahead of the draft by pitching a deal with the Colorado Avalanche to add a weapon along the blue line in the form of 30-year old veteran John-Michael Liles.

It seems like Liles has been a rumor of trade bait for quite a few years already, so it's not entirely shocking that he was eventually dealt by a Colorado organization that he has spent his entire career with but is also trying to get its team somewhat rebuilt. The fact that the Maple Leafs only needed to let go of a second round pick in this weekend's draft is a bit baffling, however.

Liles essentially replaces Tomas Kaberle, who Toronto dealt to Boston near the trade deadline last season. In fact, it was the same second rounder that Burke acquired from the Kaberle deal that he sent right over to Colorado.

Liles could afford to be more consistent in his play, but he remains one of the league's better scoring defenseman with excellent value on the power play. He is coming off a season with six goals and 46 points with 18 total power play points. He boasts career-bests of 14 goals during both of the immediate seasons coming out of the lockout and racked up an impressive eight scores on the man advantage in 2006-07.

He will enter the final year of his contract next season, which pays out $4.5 million but counts as a $4.2 million cap hit to Toronto's payroll.