Patrick Marleau Has Chosen His Preferred Trade Destination.
Among the many things that Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has to get done in the coming weeks is find a new home for Patrick Marleau. With Marleau carrying a $6.25million cap hit, it'll be ideal for Dubas to try and get a deal done before free agency and contending teams are up against the salary cap. Marleau of course has a full no movement clause and can block any trade he's not into. We've heard rumours of the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks as possible destinations but both of those trades have fallen through. According to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, Marleau is interested in returning to California, however it would be to return to the San Jose Sharks. This would be really complicated to pull off considering the Sharks are already hard against the cap, so Kypreos adds that a third team would likely have to get involved. The third team which needs to hit the salary cap floor would take on Marleau, buy him out, giving the Sharks the opportunity to sign Marleau to a more cap friendly $1-2million deal. "So right now, my understanding is San Jose's not sure yet," Kypreos said. "[Sharks general manager] Doug Wilson's in a position to say, 'Yeah, maybe I'm interested, but not certainly at the price of the last year of the contract.' So, I would probably believe that a third team would need to get involved, a team that needs to get to the [salary] floor. The Leafs would have to entice that team to take [Marleau's] contract, and have to give up something. And then if [the third team] were to buy out Marleau, then San Jose could come in and sign him at a number that they're satisfied with."
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