OverDrive: Kevin Weekes on if it’s too early for teams to start making draft and the Toronto Maple Leafs have some interest in a couple Calgary Flames defensemen.
Hayes: “With Kevin Weekes, you know, you’re as connected as it, as it gets in terms of you know, looking at trades. Hearing different stuff, breaking stuff.
Like, it’s early yet there’s angst up here in Toronto, as I know you’re aware of, and already people are calling on the new GM to make a move and trade for pieces or move pieces off the roster or what have you.
O’Neil: “They can’t Hayes. Like that …”
Hayes: “Well, that’s what I’m asking like, is it, is it too early to even consider anything significant in terms of roster movement?
Weekes: “Alright, so I broke that deal with (Calen) Addison getting traded from Minny right, and then the one after what Minny trading for Zach Bogosian. Okay, so those are relatively small deals, so to speak, because Minny, they still have the money on the cap from Zach Parise and Ryan Suter that don’t play there anymore. So they’ve got to be a little bit economical on what they do.
But is it too early? I literally spoke to, I just got off the phone with a prominent agent right before you guys called in., and I spoke to two agents that are top level guys earlier in the day. Is it too early?
I don’t think it’s too early. And here’s why I’m gonna say I don’t think it’s too early. If you’re going to make a deal, it’s one thing to wait and see how your team is gonna be. Everybody needs to get a feel right. They need to get a feel for their team. But the challenge is to me, the longer you wait on making some deals, if you’ve identified a player that you want, the longer that you wait on doing the deal, the price could very well go up or somebody else could set the market. That’s kind of the challenge.
Now specifically for the Leafs though, if you’re asking me, I think we all know that the Leafs need help on the blue line. And I know for a fact from speaking to somebody really close to this that the Leafs are one of let’s say four teams that have inquired about Nikita Zadorov from Calgary. But at this point in time, the Calgary Flames, they too are trying to get a feel. Did we just have a full(??) start or is there more to our group? We believe there’s more to our group, Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla and company think, so they want to give it a bit of time but Zadorov is one of them.
Here’s another guy, Chris Tanev‘s from back home. All he does is eat shots, he the type of, he’s a type of player for me as a tender, I’m looking up at him, and just him eating those pucks all the time, like, I would love and I loved playing with guys like that.
So those are two names, if I’m Leafs Nation that are they’re clearly looking at but I know for a fact Zadorov one of them but Tanev as well and Tanev’s a Toronto area guy, both him and his brother. So I think the Leafs need help on the blue line and the sooner to me they can address that the best.”