NHL Rumors: What Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Do on Defense?

Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Bring Back Both Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson?

Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Carter Hutton on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and asked what the Toronto Maple Leafs will do with Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin and could both be back next season.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Carter Hutton: “And you know, for me, and another thing you put out there about the leafs back end here, you know, talk about them running it back year after year after year. And there’s talk of Edmundson and Lyubushkin, and where are they at on those fronts because those guys were valuable come playoff time.”

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Dave Pagnotta: “They were very and the Leafs made it known to Edmundson and his agent that they would like to keep that going. They want to explore the possibility of re-signing and they’ve expressed that interest had been sent.

However, much like Lyubushkin and a number of others that are about to hit free agency, wants to test the waters.

So for Edmundson, he’s interested in returning to Toronto but he wants to see what’s available to him and what his options are moving forward. So he is going to test free agency and go from there.

Ilya Lyubushkin, they have not had contract discussions yet. That I would imagine going to happen in the not-too-distant future, but they haven’t had those talks yet.

The other guy, so I’m made a report a couple of weeks ago that won’t be back in Toronto is T.J. Brodie. Sounds like they’re gonna move on from that. He will also hit the waters as a free agent.”

NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs

NHLRumors.com Note: The Toronto Maple Leafs have a busy off-season ahead with the rumblings surrounding Mitch Marner and whether he will be traded or not. Marner holds all the cards when it comes to that decision.

In addition, GM Brad Treliving needs to re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi and acquire a goaltender.

One thing is for sure the Maple Leafs will be different up front next year not just on defense.