Sportsnet: Brian Burke when asked if the Toronto Maple Leafs will reassess and take a different angle heading into next season.
“I think they have too, and this will sound like we are kicking a team that’s just down, they’re not even got their gear off yet and we’re dissecting them. But the fact is, I feel we have called all these issues in real time, as they occur.
So they signed John Tavares and we pointed out that it’s going to create salary cap tension with Nylander, Matthews, and Marner, signing in that order. They committed $40 million to those four players and with an $80 million cap that made it impossible to have a proper roster constructed.
So there D isn’t deep enough, they’re not good enough, and so they head into a flat cap for atleast the next two years but probably more like four years. And it’s also more than that. I think philosophically they are committed to a style of play that is conducisive to regular season success but not playoff success. They’ve got to get bigger, they’ve got to get a little rougher, and they have a lot of work to do and not much cash to do it with.”
The Maple Leafs have pending UFA defensemen in Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci, and forwards Kyle Clifford and Jason Spezza. Elliotte Friedman was asked about there being some movement on the Leafs roster.
“There is no question there is going to be some movement and not just the UFAs you mentioned Dave, but I think they are going to have to make some changes. Like I do believe in a perfect world Kyle Dubas would give his big four one more year. Just to see, this has been a bit of a strange finish. I think that is what he would like to do.
However, after this, and the team as a whole having three five-on-five goals the entire series, there’s going to have to be a long conversation about whether or not that still is the plan.
And one of the things that Toronto has guys is they have a number of forwards whose cap hits are higher than the actual cash of their contracts because they are front-loaded or whatever. That is going to valuable in a time where Brian mentioned, the cap is going to be tight and some teams might not want to spend as much cash in the short-term. That I do think will give them options to move some players if they want to make some other, more bolder decisions.
I think that is going to big, and Brian, I think the other decision they’ve got to make here is Andersen. He’s got one more year away from unrestricted free agency. This is three consecutive deciding games they’ve lost. They’re not all his fault, but there have been some tough goals, including the second one in game No. 5 here. They are going to have to make a choice on him too.”
Burke continues:
“I agree with that but I think for them to continue with the big four makes no sense to me at all, makes no sense. It’s time for William Nylander to move. He is a cash under cap guy. He’s a good player. I think it’s time to move and get a defenseman for him.”
** NHLrumors.com transcription
