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Leafs Trade Bernier To Anaheim For Conditional Pick; Blue Beats White

July 8, 2016, 12:13 PM ET [613 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Toronto Maple Leafs continue the transition of their roster on Friday, as GM Lou Lamoriello announced following the rookie scrimmage in Niagara Falls, ON that the club had traded goaltender Jonathan Bernier to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday for a conditional draft pick.

The 27-year-old goaltender went 12-21-2, with a .908 save percentage and 2.88 GAA last season and was slated to make $4.15 Million in the final year of a two-year, $8.3 Million bridge deal. The acquisition of Frederik Andersen from Anaheim prior to the NHL Draft would have made Bernier one of the leagues higher paid backups.




Bernier returns to Southern California, where he spent his first five seasons (as a member of the Los Angeles Kings) and will be coached once again by Randy Carlyle, who was re-hired by the Ducks last month.

Toronto did not retain any salary in the trade and it is expected that the conditional draft choice will be a mid-round pick.

It is highly possible that this trade was the second part of the Andersen deal. The Ducks did not re-sign veteran goalie Anton Khudobin to backup presumptive starter John Gibson and by waiting until July 8, the Ducks avoid having to pay Bernier a $2 Million signing bonus due to him on July 1.

Anaheim will have to pay only $2.15 Million in base salary for next season.

After an impressive debut season in Toronto that ended prematurely due to a core muscle injury, Bernier win-loss record, goals-against and save percentage dropped precipitously the next two seasons.

The Laval, Quebec native spent time in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies and never earned the confidence of head coach Mike Babcock, who went to James Reimer and rookie Garret Sparks when Bernier continued to struggle.

Lamorielllo indicated following the trade that the club would be looking for a goalie to backup Andersen, which would seem to rule out youngsters Garret Sparks or Antoine Bibeau.

That could mean dipping into the free agent pool for a Jhonas Enroth or former Leaf Ben Scrivens, but more than likely it means a trade, with a soft goaltending market and teams looking to get something for netminders who they will not be able to protect in the expansion draft next summer.

One possible trading partner could be Lamoriello's former club, the New Jersey Devils. Behind starter Cory Schneider, the Devils have 27-year-old backup Keith Kinkaid, who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Union College by the Leafs GM in 2012 or 23-year-old Brampton, ON native Scott Wedgewood, who was selected by New Jersey in the third round of the 2010 Draft and played well in a second round loss to the Marlies in May.


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The Leafs held their Blue and White rookie scrimmage on Friday in front of over 2,000 fans at Gale Center Arena in Niagara Falls, ON. Team Blue defeated Team White 4-1. Mitch Marner had two assists for the Blue squad and Auston Matthews had a helper on Team White's only goal.

The 2016 first overall pick earned a penalty shot in the third period as a result of a high stick from Dominic Toninato, but Matthews shot wide on free agent goalie Christopher Nell and retired to the locker room, where he needed five stitches to repair a cut to his chin.




Scoring

1st Period

White - Jesper Lindgren (Auston Matthews) 1-0 W
Blue - JD Greenway(Penalty Shot) 1-1
Blue - Pierre Engvall (Brandon Saigeon) 2-1 B
Blue - Adam Brooks (Mitch Marner) 3-1 B

2nd Period

Blue - Carl Grundstrom(Mitch Marner - Adam Brooks)

3rd Period

No Scoring


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Mike Babcock was in attendance in Niagara Falls to get a look at the crop of the rookies, who he won't see much until the tail end of training camp, since the Leafs head coach will be handling his duties as head coach of Team Canada for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey while Toronto will open the 2016-17 season with the annual rookie tournament in London, ON on September 16-18 and training camp opens the following week in Halifax, NS.

The Leafs bench boss did not draw any conclusions from the scrimmage, but did indicate that William Nylander will begin training camp playing the wing with Matthews and that Marner will start camp on right wing.

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