Maple Leafs Salary Cap Will Play a Role in What Maple Leafs Will Do at the Deadline
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Power Play Segment with Steve Kouleas and Martin Biron and was asked who might be the best fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the center position.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: What Center Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Target?
Martin Biron: “The Toronto Maple Leafs had a bit of a scare at practice today, with (John) Tavares leaving limping. We don’t know what’s happening with him. (Auston) Matthews has missed some time, and the Leafs were already shopping for a center.
Who makes the most sense to come in and help the middle for the Toronto Maple Leafs, knowing that they’re first in the Atlantic and you want to finish first in the Atlantic? You don’t want to be caught in the well Florida, Tampa type of match-up. You want to get first place in that division.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, absolutely. Toronto’s issue/issues is they don’t have ample cap space to make an impact-type addition to bring in. And it’s gonna take some creativity and a lot of juggling here for Brad Treliving and their management staff to be able to, make certain types of moves.
NHL Rumors: Could the Toronto Maple Leafs Also be Looking at Adding a Defenseman?
Whether it is Brock Nelson from a second-line perspective at $6 million or Yanni Gourde in a third-line role at $5 million, even with salary retention, it’s going to be a little bit difficult for Toronto to pull something like that off. Maybe if Seattle has an appetite to eat half they move out a player like Nick Robertson who’s at an $875,000 cap hit it’s a little bit more flexibility there. Gives them a little bit more leeway in terms of maneuvering and MacGyvering their cap.
But it’s going to come down to what the price tags are for some of these players, the Toronto Maple Leafs, don’t have a first-round pick in this year’s draft. They have a second-round pick in next year’s draft, would they give up a first-round pick? How much is a second going to generate for them? This is what they’re going to be exploring.
NHL Rumors: The Toronto Maple Leafs are Looking for a Center with Term
And I think it might be a scenario where Toronto, I think they’d like to add sooner than later, but they may be because forced because they’re handcuffed a little bit to make a move closer to the deadline. Which, depending on how things go in and around Four Nations in terms of league-wide activity, might lead to the additional competition going into March and ahead of that deadline. Which might drive up certain prices for certain players that, that Toronto we’re looking at.
Treliving admitted over the last couple of days yeah, he’s in the market for a center, but so is like half the league. So it’s going to be interesting to see how they can maneuver their way into getting one.”
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