Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period was on with Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and was asked what is next for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Is it just a top six winger the Leafs are after?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs GM on Filling the Top-Six Hole
Anthony Stewart: “What are your thoughts on Toronto, and do they find that top-six winger that has been eluding them so far.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah. I mean, that’s next on their list. They’re one of the teams that are starting to, or were starting to look around the trade market more so than the free agent market to bring in a top six winger to add to their group. In a word, over the last couple of days, started to suggest that some of those free agents either were interested in going to the Leafs or exploring other options.
Obviously, we saw (Brock) Boeser stay in Vancouver, (Brad) Marchand stays in Florida, and so on, so on. So they started to explore the trade market. So they took a lot of focus on depth pieces. Right now, from a free agent standpoint, I think anything that they try to do, from an impact side of things, they’re going to continue to explore the trade market to see what’s out there and available to them.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Vancouver Canucks
I think they poked around on (Nikolaj) Ehlers. I’m not sure where that’s gone, to be totally frank. But I do know that they have been starting to poke around, look to see what options may be available to them as they try to fish for a top-six guy, a winger to bring in.
The problem is they don’t have a ton of assets. And they may just sit back and see if an opportunity pops up later on in the summer, or wait for next season and see if a kid like Easton Cowan can claim one of those spots internally.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to look for a top-six winger even after the addition of Matias Maccelli from the Utah Mammoth. Toronto is connected to some of the remaining unrestricted free agents, including Jack Roslovic. Not to mention, though he doesn’t fit the top-six role, there are rumblings that they want to bring back Max Pacioretty on their bottom six. But as the old saying goes, top six forwards don’t grow on trees, and prices remain steep. It will be interesting to see how the Maple Leafs fulfill this need.
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