Should the Leafs go out and acquire Kevin Shattenkirk?

99.9% of general managers in the National Hockey League would love to have Kevin Shattenkirk on their roster and you cant really fault them for that. Since entering the league in 2010 with the team that drafted him but later traded him ,the Colorado Avalanche, Shattenkirk has scored 66 goals and registered 281 points in 466 career games. Theres no surprise as to why most teams would want to have him, he's a phenomenal puck moving defensemen with a solid right handed shot, he stands 6 feet 209 pounds and he's only 28 years old.

But does he fit in with the leafs? 

YES. He would make a great top 2 pairing with lefty Morgan Rielly  and certainly help the leafs make this years playoffs but is it the right time to acquire him? 

NO, the Leafs are clearly rebuilding and even though they hold the second wildcard spot in the east there are still a young team who is rebuilding and acquiring Shattenkirk would mean sending some young talent the other way. Even if they make the playoffs and even IF they acquire Shattenkirk the leafs probably won't win the cup. There are teams with much more playoff experience and all around better talent that will prevent them from winning. By sending young talent to the blues, you are only hurting your chances in the future. See Shattenkirk is a UFA at the end of this season and rumour is he's expecting around 8 million a season, if the leafs do send a package of young talent to the blues and sign him to an extension there only hurting there future and stunting there rebuild. The leafs certainly have the cap space to sign Shattenkirk but keep in mind they have some young stars that are gonna need to get paid in a few years (Mathews,Marner,Nylander) and an 8 million dollar cap dent for 7 years might not be good when you try to re-sign those guys. Now if current leafs roster was built of players all in there prime then absolutely this deal makes sense but at the moment the leafs are to young to be making a move this big.