Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Leafs wanted both Zadorov and Tanev episode, on the Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Sean Walker.
You know, there was a, there was a name that was floated out over the weekend. I don’t think by either the teams will be involved in a deal but the name Sean Walker was out there this weekend. That’s another right-shot D.
Now it’s not the, you know, snarly Nikita Zadorov, or the shot-blocking machine that is Chris Tanev. But he’s someone who’s played, he’s having a really great season.”
Friedman: “Played really well this year, really well this year.”
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Marek: “Yeah, he has. And, you know, he’s on an expiring contract as well. Which isn’t to say that he couldn’t get traded and go back to Philadelphia next year. But nonetheless, that is a name that’s out there.
Is that the sort of level of defenseman that you think the Maple Leafs are hunting for?”
Friedman: “You know, I had, when you mentioned that to me Saturday, I know again, like it’s tough because the Leafs and in this case, the Flyers, they don’t really want to say anything, right? So you kind of have to work around them. The Leafs were, really tried to be secret under Dubas. That really hasn’t changed under Treliving. He’s trying to keep it very quiet.
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But I just got told by another team, I heard that Walker was a good name around the league because there are teams who like him. I was just told he wasn’t on Toronto’s top list of targets. Now, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. You know, Toronto’s top targets were Zadorov and Tanev and one’s gone and we’ll see on the other. So sometimes you have to move. Walker would be a very nice pickup, but I just heard he wasn’t the top choice for Toronto.”