Next Stretch Will Determine What Direction the Toronto Maple Leafs Head In
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart, and the Toronto Maple Leafs were discussed. Pagnotta states that if the road trip doesn’t go well, the Maple Leafs should consider moving out pieces.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Steve Kouleas: “We’re going to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs and the realism of not making the playoffs, as opposed to making it. And I know you’ve discussed if that is the case, then there could be a sell-off that could include blank.
What are you hearing about in terms of filling in the blanks of players who could be available as the Leafs could be sellers at the deadline for the first time since March 2016?”
Dave Pagnotta: ” I think this four-game road trip is really going to dictate what this team is going to end up doing between now and now on the deadline. There’s a little bit of runway ahead of the roster freeze on the fourth. I think their last game is the second, they play back-to-back in Edmonton and Calgary. Before that, this Saturday, they’ve got Vancouver, and night, they’ve got Seattle (lost 5-2). These are winnable games for them, like they should be. You look at it, at least on paper, you would think three of the four should be achievable, and maybe you can squeeze a point in the Edmonton game.
But if this thing doesn’t go their way, then I think they have to take a serious look at moving some pieces here. They’ve got 29 games left in the season as of today. You lose four of those more. You’re that much further out of the playoff spot, you’re eight points back. Now, they’ve had talks with Bobby McMann‘s camp about an extension, but nothing to report there; nothing has gone anywhere to this point.
They plan to talk to Scott Laughton‘s side, but they haven’t done that yet. These are loose discussions that may have occurred on both sides, but in terms of actual negotiations with Laughton, that hasn’t happened yet.
They have some other pieces. And if they do go through this road trip in Seattle and Western Canada, and it doesn’t, it’s not fortuitous for them; you have to start having serious conversations about some other pieces.
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We know that they dangled guys like (Brandon) Carlo and (Max) Domi and (Matias) Maccelli before, but that was at a time when they were trying to package guys up to improve and go from there. Maybe they still do that. It might be more long-term thinking, somebody who can help them next season and on, but they’re going to have some serious questions that need to be answered.
I think one that they may revert back to is Morgan Rielly‘s future in Toronto. He has a no-movement clause and a loose discussion with him in the offseason. After their season ended last year, there was a lot of high expectations on him coming into camp and coming into the start of the season, just not there yet.
He’s got some term left. He’s at $7.5 million, which is for a number two, is a solid number. It just hasn’t been that number one presence here in Toronto, and I’m very curious if they go back to him and say, Hey, let’s talk about some options.”
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