Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman when asked about the Toronto Maple Leafs, an ideal second-line center and what else they might be looking at.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Anna Dua: “Want to shift the conversation over to Toronto, because we tee’d them up a little bit. And I want to ask you, we’ve seen a couple of losses for the Leafs now. They lost to the Caps, they lost to the Jets. They lost to the islanders.
That number 2C spot for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like, what are they looking at there? What have you heard about, what they’re thinking about there? Because now we’re seeing when they had these injuries that they overcame in the first half this year. it’s kind of looking a little bit more prominent right now that they need to solidify that second line of theirs.”
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Friedman: “Well, you know, I think that’s the number one thing that we’ve been working for all season. Is that, you know, I think they, I mean, aside from the injuries Anna, I think they’re pretty comfortable in goal. And, you know, maybe, you know, we’ll see like, like (Matt) Murray had a rough night the other night, you know, he had a great night the first night. I’m sure it’ll be somewhere in the middle, and he’ll get more time to sort it out. But, you know, (Anthony) Stolarz and (Joseph) Woll, knock on wood, if they stay healthy, I think they’re going to be okay with that.
I think, I think they’re, they’ve generally been okay with their D. They did a lot of their work in the offseason. I think now there’s a question of, do they need to go find someone to play with (Morgan) Rielly? Is there a stylistic fit out there they like? But it’s not their number one priority.
I don’t believe, I believe their number one thing all summ(er), all season has been, let’s find another center. Now I think their preference is term. That’s one thing I’ve heard out there, Anna, their preferences term. I mean if there’s a rental that they really like, you know, I’m sure they’ll pivot to that, too. But one of the things I’ve heard is that if they’re going to go and spend assets on a center, they’d prefer somebody with term.”
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