- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: The Leafs are in no rush to make a trade.
“I came here for the draft. It wasn’t really the trade deadline,” the team president said. “Nothing really materialized that would benefit the Leafs. We initiated discussions with teams on the floor that are still alive. They were under no rush. We were under no rush. This was a good time for some initial contact to be made. Those (talks) aren’t dead.
“We’ll see where we are in the next month or two. If we come to camp and we don’t have something done that we wanted, that’s fine as well.”President Brendan Shanahan said he didn’t receive any firm offers for any of his players while at the draft.
- David Pagnotta: The Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf trade watch is still alive. The Leafs have also been actively talking to teams about Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul.
- David Pagnotta: (after the Mike Richards news) This could change the dynamics of Toronto-Los Angeles talks about Dion Phaneuf as Richards’ salary is off their books. The Kings have also re-started talks with Andrej Sekera.
- Chris Johnston: Would be stunned if the Maple Leafs were to retain any salary in a Phil Kessel trade. Talking back bad contracts makes more sense.
- Dennis Bernstein: (answering question) Phaneuf, Lupul and Bozak would likely be traded for Kessel. Give Kessel a year under Mike Babcock and see how it goes.
- Darren Dreger: There are some whispers that Phil Kessel will return to Toronto next month and could start to work with Gary Roberts.
- Dennis Bernstein: Wouldn’t be a surprise if the Kings were considering UFA defenseman Paul Martin.
- James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail: The Kings were trying to trade Mike Richards at the draft, and were willing to retain a chunk of his salary. They were also willing to throw in a prospect, though the quality of the prospect is in question. The Maple Leafs were listening. If the Leafs, or any team had traded for him and bought him out, he would have carried a $600,000 to $2.1-million cap hit for 10 years. The Kings would have had to include a Grade A prospect or a first round pick.
