Insider reveals why the Leafs/Flames deal fell apart and what the plans are after missing out on Zadorov
This past weekend, during the Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman confirmed what we had all suspected, which is that the Maple Leafs made a hard push to acquire both Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames last week.
Ultimately, the Leafs came up short, and Vancouver capitalized on their chance to acquire Zadorov from the Flames in exchange for a 3rd round pick and a 5th round pick. The key in the deal, per Friedman, was that Vancouver did not require the Flames to retain any salary, whereas the Leafs did. In the end, the Flames took what they perceived to be a better deal for them.
On Monday, on his most recent 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman gave us a bit of a rundown on what had actually occurred between the Leafs, Flames and Canucks over the course of the week that ultimately led to Zadorov being shipped off to Vancouver.
"What happened was Toronto tried to get both players (Zadorov and Tanev). Here's what it came down to; Toronto needed Calgary to retain. Unlike Vancouver, they needed Calgary to retain. If you look at Nikita Zadorov's salary, he's making $3.75M this year... let's just say it's 50% - because Toronto is in a cap crunch, so for the sake of easy math, we're going to say Toronto needed them to keep 50%... Chris Tanev, this year is being paid $4.5M, there's no signing bonuses.
Let's just say that Toronto was asking for Calgary to keep 50% of two players [a quarter of the way through the season], that's over $3M. So, in addition to what you were going to be paying for the 2 rentals, you were going to have to pay Calgary, whatever the argument was, that they should have to pay for Calgary to keep $3.1M and that's why I heard the negotiation fell apart.
I think Toronto made offers. I think they had some things on the table. I think Calgary had kind of told them what it would take, but I just heard that what Calgary valued the money at, the retention money at - and $3.2M is nothing to sneeze at - I just don't think they got far enough.
The non-retention from Vancouver was really important to Calgary and so Vancouver took the deal."
Let's just say that Toronto was asking for Calgary to keep 50% of two players [a quarter of the way through the season], that's over $3M. So, in addition to what you were going to be paying for the 2 rentals, you were going to have to pay Calgary, whatever the argument was, that they should have to pay for Calgary to keep $3.1M and that's why I heard the negotiation fell apart.
I think Toronto made offers. I think they had some things on the table. I think Calgary had kind of told them what it would take, but I just heard that what Calgary valued the money at, the retention money at - and $3.2M is nothing to sneeze at - I just don't think they got far enough.
The non-retention from Vancouver was really important to Calgary and so Vancouver took the deal."
Friedman also dropped some news on the Leafs' continued pursuit of Tanev and/or another potential target who will fit their criteria.
"Now, Tanev. I do think Toronto will continue to try [to trade for] Tanev... I'm getting some mixed messages... but Toronto is definitely looking for D. The search for D is on. I heard 'right hand shot', I heard 'preference is for an edgier or more physical player'... I think Toronto has a preference on what they want to do. They may have to just go out and get someone because they need to, but they are definitely on the [lookout] for a D and they prefer a right shot."
The Leafs don't play again until Thursday, December 7th, so there's probably a pretty good chance that, with the time off, Brad Treliving will ramp up his efforts to get a deal done this week. We know that Mark Giordano is week-to-week with a broken finger and with Timothy Liljegren "not close" to a return and John Klingberg's future in doubt, it would make sense for Treliving to get a deal done sooner than later.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 4 | 588 ANSWERS Insider reveals why the Leafs/Flames deal fell apart and what the plans are after missing out on Zadorov How many defensemen should the Leafs trade for? | ||
| Just 1 good top-4 Dman | 213 | 36.2 % |
| I don't think they need anyone else | 23 | 3.9 % |
| 2 mid-range D | 191 | 32.5 % |
| 1 top pairing D | 161 | 27.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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