SDPN: (YouTube) Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie on The Chris Johnston Show talking about whether there are any trade targets that might interest the Toronto Maple Leafs.
**NHLRumors.com transcription
McKenzie: “But I’m also just wondering, like, who else, in terms of certain other trade targets that could be applicable for Brad Treliving in the Leafs?
Johnston: “I don’t think it’s a long list right now, honestly. You know, I don’t think there’s that many players that we term ‘available’ that can play the kind of role the Leafs you’re looking for. I sort of wonder if, in the end, this isn’t something the Leafs and maybe some other teams actually try to solve this summer, because, you know, Toronto doesn’t have all that much to trade either, right? That’s it. That’s the other side of this.
I did mention a few sort of bottom six players on the roster (Nick Robertson, Calle Jarnkrok, and David Kampf) that I could see being moved for various reasons, whether it’s as an incentive because someone likes them out there, or to clear a little bit more cap space, or even just clear roster space, because you can only carry so many players, and there wouldn’t be room for everyone. Obviously, some players would be subjected to waivers if you didn’t remove, if you keep, kept adding bodies into the team.
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You know, maybe this ends up being a longer-term project. I mean, it’s too soon to say that definitively, it’s only July 7th. There’s, there’s always some things that could pop up that I think nobody sees coming. Or we’ll see how some of those arbitration cases go, all that, all that happens here.
But, you know, it might be a long summer in Toronto. I think looking for that option, because the point, the truth is, there’s not, there’s not a list of 10 wingers that could fit with the Leafs are looking for that are available, I don’t think.
And so if they aren’t able to, or don’t have the desire to get in on, you know, someone like, like a Bryan Rust or (Rickard) Rakell, maybe (Jared) McCann. I mean, I just don’t know where, what doors you’re knocking on at this point in time.
You know, I do know the least did have interest in (Nikolaj) Ehlers, and just wasn’t a fit from the players end of that equation, but he was someone certainly I think Toronto had, you know, some interest in as a free agent, but, you know, they weren’t alone there, right? Nikolaj Ehlers had a lot of options.
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So, you know, some teams are gonna have to get creative, I guess is my takeaway from where we’re going this summer, and the Leafs would be, you know, at the top of that list. Because I, you know, they’ve lost Mitch Marner, they’ve, you know, they’ve added some players that they have a good reason to feel good about.
But I mean, they, they’re going to need a little more offensive pop. And some of that, I think, they can count on, coming from Austin Matthews having, you know, hopefully, for his sake, a healthier season, and if that’s the case, that would take a more productive season. But you know, it’s not all going to be internal step-ups there.
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So, you know, we’ll see, we’ll see where the, everything lands here. But, you know, I don’t think it’s going to be like a wild week. We might get a couple trades, you know, that’s what I was winking at with that initial tweet. But I think this is going to be a long, drawn-out process in places, and I could see Toronto being one of those places.
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