TSN: Carlo Colaiacovo on First Up TSN 1050 on how it’s not easy for the Toronto Maple Leafs to added a defenseman at this point in time and you may have to go bargain hunting.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“For anybody who watches the Maple Leafs, the first thing they’re going to do, they’re going to talk about the improvement that they need on their defense. And Brad Treliving addressed it yesterday. Like he’s, he’s not oblivious to that. He’s trying to do it.
But the thing is, is when you’re trying to negotiate with somebody that knows, you absolutely need help in a certain area, they’re not, they’re not sitting there willing to help you with, you know, accomplish everything that you need done.
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They, they’re trying to, you know, take advantage of the situation. So, as much as there’s anxiety about the Maple Leafs going out right now and using that $4 million, $4 plus million dollars in cap space on the Klingberg injury. To go out and improve and bring in somebody that can make their defense better.
I honestly think there’s going to be a wait-and-see game here as well too, because you just, like right now, there’s a lot of teams in the mix that still don’t know which direction they want to go.
And unless somebody comes in, blows them out of our wire, blows them out out of the water with a price that they can’t refuse on a player, which I don’t think the Maple Leafs are in any position to do right now.
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We might, they might have to just go bargain shopping with some guys and just find, maybe just another NHL caliber defenseman instead of a guy that’s that, that’s going to fit the mold of what they’re looking for as a top pairing defenseman.”