Pair of insiders confirm Leafs still looking to deal; one potential target identified
After the acquisition of Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari Friday night, it was thought that the Leafs were essentially done. However, that does not appear to be the case as both Chris Johnston and Elliotte Freidman have confirmed that the Leafs are still looking for upgrades.
Johnston reports that the Leafs are still active, but would only be making trades where it was money in, money out and suggests that if the Leafs acquire a defenseman that Justin Holl would be sent out while Alexander Kerfoot would be sent out if they were to trade for a forward. Friedman suggests that the Leafs are primarily looking to add on the back end with Islanders' defenseman Scott Mayfield as a primary target.
A right-shot defenceman who will be a UFA at the end of the season, Mayfield carries a cap hit of $1.45M. The Leafs currently have $4.4M in cap space due to Matt Murray being placed on LTIR, however, Kyle Dubas said he expects Murray to be back sooner rather than later which would put the Leafs very tight to the cap. Essentially, it confirms that any deal the Leafs make now will be money in, money out as Johnston mentioned and with a number of pending UFAs on their roster, the Leafs could certainly swap one pending UFA for another.
| POLL | ||
20 FEVRIER | 621 ANSWERS Pair of insiders confirm Leafs still looking to deal; one potential target identified Should the Leafs pursue a deal for Scott Mayfield? | ||
| Yes | 334 | 53.8 % |
| No | 140 | 22.5 % |
| Who? | 147 | 23.7 % |
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