“Better in the playoffs than Marner was”: NHL fans react as Toronto Maple Leafs acquire Dakota Joshua from Canucks

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, acquiring forward Dakota Joshua in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round draft pick.

The move comes after the Leafs traded away Mitch Marner to Vegas in a blockbuster sign-and-trade deal earlier this month.

Maple Leafs fans reacted to the Joshua trade on social media, with many poking fun at the team's decision to part ways with Marner. One tweeted:

"Better in the playoffs than Marner was," alluding to Marner's past struggles to produce offense in the postseason.

Another wrote:

"Another step towards recreating Marner in the aggregate?"

Here are some more fan reactions:

"I don’t get why people hate on this deal. Edm / van games, he brought toughness to their team. I think last year was an outlier, wasn’t he dealing with testicular cancer?," one wrote.

"Just when you thought the Leafs couldn't possibly ice a lineup with less balls than last season," another wrote.

"Perfect replacement for Jarnkrok, cap for cap and perfect to build a third line identity beside Roy," a user commented.

"Good trade, guy’s physical and will add a nice element to the bottom 6. for a 4th round pick, there’s not much else you can get better than that," another wrote.

Joshua ended the regular season with seven goals and 14 points across 57 games. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs open their 2025–26 campaign on Oct. 8 against the Montreal Canadiens.

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Canucks GM Patrik Allvin on Dakota Joshua's trade

Dakota Joshua spent the last three years with the Canucks after joining as a free agent in 2022. He was sidelined for training camp and the early part of last season while recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his testicle.

“Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation. Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward,” said Patrik Allvin. (per ThetAthletic)

With the trade, the Canucks free up some much-needed salary cap space as they look to make mpre moves this summer. Dakota Joshua had three years remaining on his contract, which has a $3.25 million cap hit.