On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
- James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail: Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello has been working the phones lately, checking out the trade market and letting teams know what they have available.Lamoriello has been checking out the interest level in some of his pending free agents, including Roman Polak, PA Parenteau and Shawn Matthias.Players with term that are available include Daniel Winnik (one year left at $2.25 million) and Jonathan Bernier (one year left at $4.15 million).
James Reimer will be a free agent at the end of the year. They could work out an extension with him, or look to go with someone new, assuming that they can move Bernier. Moving Bernier won’t be easy due to high asking prices and other goalies available like Frederik Andersen.It’s tough to make deals right now as many teams are still in the playoff race, which could be an advantage for the Leafs as they may be few sellers. A lot of teams are close to the salary cap, so the closer to the deadline, the more room they’ll have.
Other players who could hit the market include Eric Staal, Steven Stamkos, Andrew Ladd, Radim Vrbata, Loui Eriksson, Jiri Hudler and Brandon Pirri.
The Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, and New York Rangers are looking for scoring.
The Maple Leafs will have trouble moving the big contracts of Joffrey Lupul and/or Dion Phaneuf, and their names aren’t coming up in preliminary trade talks.
The Leafs could trade as many as eight players by the deadline.
- Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk: Jonas Siegel was on TSN 1040 radio over the weekend and suggested that the three most likely Maple Leafs to be traded are PA Parenteau, Roman Polak and Michael Grabner.Matt Hunwick might get some interest, but he may not be made available.
“Mike Babcock loves Hunwick,” Siegel explained. “They’ve been using him in a role that he’s probably not suited for — he’s on their top pair with Morgan Rielly — but he’s a guy that Babcock loves.”
- Eklund of Hockey Buzz: Four teams that could look at Tyler Bozak include the Predators, Ducks, Flames and Senators. Hearing a lottery protected first round pick could be made available.