The Maple Leafs came out of the draft weekend adding two 18-year-old first-round caliber defensemen in Morgan Rielly and Matt Finn, but neither of those youngsters will be in a position to help Brian Burke’s club next year.
The deal for James Van Riemsdyk cost Toronto a big, tough, yet much maligned blueliner in Luke Schenn, leaving the club with Dion Phaneuf, Carl Gunnarsson, John-Michael Liles, Jake Gardiner, Mike Komisarek and RFA Cody Franson for next season. There are players like Jesse Blacker and Korbinian Holzer who may be ready to challenge for a job, but the departure of Schenn would seem open up the possibility of free agent collegian Justin Schultz taking his place, if Burke is able to sign the University of Wisconsin product on July 1.
Schultz is now free to negotiate on the market and is attracting interest from most NHL clubs, but realistically the list of suitors is in single digits, with Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto most often mentioned.
The young defenseman is in Toronto to meet with these representatives at Newport Sports and a Brad Richards-like pilgrimage by interested parties could be in the offing over the next couple days, but indications are that when the final decisions are to be made, that Toronto will be on the short list.
If this situation is anything like the farce of last July, it is being done for show, since it was clear back before the trade deadline that Richards only wanted to go to the Rangers.
There are no guarantees that Schultz will sign with Toronto, but veteran reporters like Stan Fischler believe that he will end up in Blue and White.
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In the never ending side of one Roberto Luongo, Aaron Portzline reported early this morning that the veteran goaltender had put the kibosh on any deal that would send him to Chicago or Toronto, preferring to return to his old stomping grounds in Florida, but many believe that in the end the Panthers will not be willing to take on the financial burden of Luongo’s long term deal.
TSN's Bob McKenzie indicated as much this afternoon:
Lot of Luongo talk about waiving/not waiving NTC. Here's my take, the process has yet to be that formal. His obvious preference is Florida but if Florida doesn't pan out, doors to TOR or elsewhere are not by any means closed.
The talk of additional suitors has to be music to Vancouver GM Mike Gillis’ ears, because it enables him to raise the price tag on the veteran goaltender, but all indications are that every interested team has balked at the price of young prospects and/or roster players.
Gillis said that he is in no rush to make a move and Burke continues to state that his club is fully capable of going with James Reimer and Ben Scrivens, so fans should be prepared for this stalemate to continue for the foreseeable future.
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