- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “Obviously the relationship between the Leafs & Franson isn’t easy. Have had contract battles for a few years in a row now” … “It’s pretty clear Franson wasn’t happy at times last year with the team & they weren’t happy with him” … “He’s a right shot guy who can score points & those guys are hard to find”… “There have been some teams sniffing around Franson. I think Calgary was one.” … “The Leafs know they just can’t give Franson away, he’s too talented. But the other teams know…””…, are they going to give up a good piece for a guy who is 1 year away from testing the market?” … “The Leafs are in a bit of a tough spot. Teams that are trying to trade with them are in a tough spot”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “I think there were a couple of different options between the Leafs & Habs for Gorges.” … “I think there was also a chance that Montreal would have done it for a draft pick“
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “The Leafs still have a bit of room. They still need to get the Reimer situation sorted out”
- Hope Smoke: Eliotte Friedman: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bridge deal for Gardiner. A 2 year thing.” … “I would suspect, and this is purely guess work on my end with the number, but in the mid $2s ” … “They’ve had some conversations about it & there aren’t expectations that it will be a brutal deal to get done”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “One of the things I kind of heard that the Leafs around the draft had some cap flexibility and offered to take on some $ to get an asset back in return. I don’t know if that’s still something they would do now.” … “This was widely reported earlier, but I know the Leafs took inquiries on a lot of their players to see what the return would be” … “The Leafs received a couple of calls for Lupul, but he’s a 25 goal guy making $5.25 million.” … “If you trade Lupul are going to be able to replace him for that number? That’s a pretty good cap hit” … “I’m not so convinced the Leafs are willing to do that anymore”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “If Reimer is back in Toronto next year I’m sure he’d be disappointed & would prefer to be somewhere else…” … “…but in the end if he isn’t a professional who are you hurting? Yourself. It’s a small league.” … “Who would go out there and make a deal for Reimer if they see him as being a downer? I just don’t see Reimer being like that”