Rumour: Leafs could move a member of the ''Core 4'' for highly coveted goaltender
Remember when Nick Kypreos suggested the Leafs should trade William Nylander to Anaheim for Nick Ritchie? Well, I'm glad that never happened and wasn't even close to happening. Nylander has heard his name in the rumour mill every off-season for basically his entire career and, of course, he's back in the rumour mill this year.
According to Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, if the Leafs are unable to re-sign Jack Campbell, John Gibson would be a primary target for the Leafs to pursue. Anaheim is in the midst of a retool and could use another skilled forward to play alongside Trevor Zegras.
Hornby suggested that the deal could be a 1-for-1 where the Leafs would send Nylander and his $6.9M cap hit to Anaheim for John Gibson and his $6.4M cap hit. In theory, the trade would solve the Leafs' goaltending issues, but then it takes away from their forward depth making them thinner than they already are on the wing.
What the trade would do, however, is allow the Leafs to spend their remaining ~$10M in cap space on upgrading their forward corps, hence balancing the roster. In my opinion, the deal is a long shot, but stranger things have happened.
Free agency starts in 3 days, so we should know by Wednesday whether or not the Leafs will need to trade for a goalie. Should they have to trade for one, and if it's very close to the deal listed above, it will make the rest off-season for Dubas an interesting one, as it would mean a very different-looking forward group next season.
| POLL | ||
10 JUILLET | 1904 ANSWERS Rumour: Leafs could move a member of the ''Core 4'' for highly coveted goaltender Would you trade Nylander for John Gibson in a 1-for-1 deal? | ||
| Definitely | 600 | 31.5 % |
| Not a chance | 858 | 45.1 % |
| We should just re-sign Jack Campbell | 382 | 20.1 % |
| Trade for Gibson at all costs | 64 | 3.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
