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Mundane Moves Made On Deadline Day; Leafs Vs Panthers

March 3, 2015, 2:48 PM ET [1288 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
For those who were looking for the much discussed teardown of the Toronto Maple Leafs to begin, NHL Trade Deadline Day was quite a letdown, but the club continued their methodical accumulation of draft choices with two minor deals before the 3pm Monday finish line.

Leafs GM Dave Nonis was able to move center Olli Jokinen and defenseman Korbinian Holzer to contenders looking for roster depth, but was unable to pull off more impact moves involving core players Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul or Dion Phaneuf.

The 36-year-old Jokinen was sent packing to the St. Louis Blues for journeyman Joakim Lindstrom and a conditional 2015 sixth round draft pick which could reach as high as a fourth rounder if the Blues get to the Stanley Cup Final and Jokinen plays in the series.

Holzer, who suffered a concussion in the 4-0 loss to Washington on Sunday, was shipped to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2015 fifth round pick and veteran defenseman Eric Brewer, but it appears that the draft pick was as much to clear Brewer’s $2.86 Million cap hit off the Ducks books than to obtain the German-born blueliner.

Anaheim later added defenseman James Wisniewski and his $5.5 Million cap hit from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The 31-year-old Lindstrom signed a one-year deal with the Blues in 2014 after three seasons in the Swedish Hockey League and has made stops in Columbus, Phoenix and Colorado and was likely included in the deal to clear his $700,000 salary to counterbalance Jokinen’s $2.5 Million price tag.

Brewer will be playing for his third NHL club this season, as the 35-year-old former Olympic gold medal winner was traded from Tampa Bay in November and played only nine games for the Ducks due to injury and ineffective play.

Both Lindstrom and defenseman Tim Erixon(who was claimed on waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday) will make their Leafs debut on Tuesday, as the Leafs take on the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL. The Panthers added veteran Jaromir Jagr before the deadline and are just two points in back of the Boston Bruins for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot.

Roberto Luongo will get the start in goal for Florida and Jonathan Bernier will be between the pipes for the Leafs.

The majority of the trade talk on deadline day was focused on Phaneuf, who drew some interest from the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, but mostly from the Detroit Red Wings.

According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, Red Wings GM Ken Holland was looking for Toronto to eat a significant portion of Phaneuf’s $7 Million salary, as well as taking on a bad contract like Stephen Weiss or Jakub Kindl to balance out the financial aspect of the deal.

Toronto wanted a high draft choice and a top-end prospect like Anthony Mantha included in the package and may not have wanted to retain salary for the six remaining years of the defenseman’s deal. This appears to be the same stance that the Leafs took when discussing swapping Phaneuf to Los Angeles, as they reportedly asked to young forward Tyler Toffoli as part of the deal.

Detroit went to Plan B and acquired pending UFA Marek Zidlicky from the New Jersey Devils for a conditional draft pick.

“There may be more opportunities for us going forward based on some of the discussions we’ve had over the last couple weeks, but that remains to be seen.” Nonis said after the deadline on Monday. “Today there weren’t deals that were there for any of our players that made sense for us in terms of moving this organization forward.”

It is a reality that trades for Phaneuf, Bozak, Lupul and Kessel will necessitate taking back salaried players in return, but that since the core group is in their prime, it is incumbent upon Leafs management to get young assets to facilitate the rebuild and deals for players with significant term are more easily completed in the summer when cap situations are less restrictive.

“We’re going to move players based on the ability to make our team better. It's not a fire-sale.” Nonis said. “We didn't go out and try to move a bunch of people today, all we did is say 'we're open for business' to see if there are fits to make us better and to me there is a big distinction between trying to move somebody and willing to move somebody."

The fact that Toronto’s asking price leaked to the media is purposeful, as it establishes a higher than expected price point for Phaneuf and other players that the Leafs can use to negotiate a deal in the off-season.

"The notion that the players we have here aren't quality players or these aren't players that are wanted and desired by other teams is nonsense.” Nonis said. “I know from the number of calls that I've had and discussions I've had with other teams that only lives in print and on radio and television. It's not in the NHL and it's not with other clubs. So could we see a number of these players back? No question we could. Would we move some of them if we get better and accomplish some of our goals moving forward? Yes. But again it's not a situation where everyone has to go and there is not a time-frame or a date that things have to be completed by."

In the deals that Toronto was able to complete, they obtained first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth picks over the next two drafts for five expiring contracts and moved David Clarkson for Nathan Horton.

Now the only thing left to be determined in the last 19 games is which players will make an impression on management that they should be part of the club going forward and what spot will the Maple Leafs be selecting in the 2015 NHL Draft.

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