New Leafs acquisition Carter Hutton will not report to Toronto
During Monday's game in Montreal, the Leafs completed their second trade with the Arizona Coyotes in the last 72 hours, as they announced via Twitter that they had acquired goaltender Carter Hutton from the Yotes in exchange for future considerations. Hutton had cleared waivers on Monday, meaning that he could be assigned to the AHL.
Shortly after the trade was announced, The Athletic's Craig Morgan tweeted out something interesting.
That sent Twitter into a bit of a frenzy, with many speculating that the move was potentially a precursor to another trade. While that still might be the case, it's more likely that a story that Morgan had written for GoPhnx dot com explains the tweet.
Morgan has reported that, although Hutton was acquired by the Leafs, the plan is for him to remain in Arizona, on loan from the Leafs to the AHL's Tuscon Roadrunners as he works his way back from an ankle injury.
In addition, Morgan revealed that Hutton was aware of the deal before it was made, and consented to it so long as he could remain with his family in Arizona. So, by all accounts this appears to be the Leafs doing the Yotes a favor.
Perhaps this was a discussion that the Leafs and Coyotes had during the negotiation process on the Nick Ritchie for Ilya Lyubushkin deal, with Dubas using some of the Leafs' financial flexibility to save the Yotes some cap space, so long as Hutton cleared waivers - which he did. It does make sense, but that's pure speculation.
Nevertheless, it's an interesting development, and one that will help make sense of the Hutton deal for Toronto Maple Leafs fans. The Leafs already have Jack Campbell, Petr Mrazek, Michael Hutchinson and Joseph Woll who are capable of playing NHL games. It didn't make sense to acquire another fringe NHLer unless they had planned to ship another one out. Knowing what we know now about the arrangement between the Leafs and Hutton, it makes much more sense.
Source: GoPhnx.com
