Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving asleep at the wheel, misses out on adding elite young goalie
The Maple Leafs missed out on the opportunity to acquire Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators for a surprisingly low cost.
After requesting a trade out of Nashville earlier this week, Askarov has been officially granted his request. This afternoon, the Predators sent the 22-year-old former first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks along with Nolan Burke and a 2025 third-round pick. In return, the Predators received goaltender Magnus Chrona, top prospect David Edstrom and Vegas' 2025 first-round pick.
Given the return the Predators got, the Leafs could have pushed to acquire Askarov for the likes of Dennis Hildeby, a first-round pick and a top prospect. Unfortunately, the Leafs are also dealing with a logjam between the pipes with Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz as the goaltending tandem for at least the next two seasons, while Matt Murray is the third goalie next season and would almost certainly be lost on waivers at his miniscule cap hit.
Had the Leafs acquired Askarov, they would have had to do some additional shuffling to afford him the opportunity to play NHL games this season as he made it very clear to the Predators that he would not be playing in the AHL.
Source: Hockey DB
Yaroslav Askarov Stats
| POLL | ||
AOUT 23 | 827 ANSWERS Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving asleep at the wheel, misses out on adding elite young goalie Should the Leafs have attempted to acquire Askarov? | ||
| Yes | 376 | 45.5 % |
| No | 270 | 32.6 % |
| It made no sense for them to | 181 | 21.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
