Be sure to like HockeyBuzz on facebook! For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas fielded questions at the halfway mark of the regular season and indicated the club will take an aggressive approach towards adding before the April 12th trade deadline.
Dubas said that the focus of most of his inquiries with other teams have been about acquiring forward help, although he did not rule out acquiring depth on defense or a goaltender. He added that he is willing to trade a top prospect to improve his club and would likely prefer a rental to a player with term remaining.
I don't go in transfixed on any one area in particular, but I do think that if we can, we'll try to improve at any position that's possible. Some on our team, like defense and goaltending are a little bit more stable. In the summer, we had to move out some forwards that were good forwards for us, in order to add on the back end and thus we feel like that's an area where we may want to look out a little bit more, but I'm not precluding anything at this point. I'd say most of the conversations are focused on forwards right now.
I think we would look at everything. Certainly knowing that the cap is going to stay the same, anything that's added that has an obligation and usually you put a premium on getting a player that has future years and with Muzzin and Campbell, that's what we've done, it's a little bit more complex this year knowing that very likely (the cap is) going to be at $81.5 million again, so anything that we take from next year's allotment impacts a number of different things. It's a rare time where probably a rental is a better fit. That said, if it's something that we feel can improve our team long term, we'll find a way to make it work and figure it out, whether it's a pure hockey trade or having to do something else to offset it.
The Leafs are right up against the $81.5 million salary cap limit, which forced the club to place forward Jimmy Vesey on waivers Tuesday, but that does not rule out the possibility of trades.
The cap situation not only for us, but if you look at it for planning, two-thirds of the teams in the league are very tight. I'm very fortunate to have Brandon Pridham on the staff and he and I talk for hours a day of different things that we can do and will do and are attempting to accomplish as we go through it.
I think that's where Brandon's value is even more immense than usual. He not only has a great understanding of our situation, but of other situations and can come up with different ideas and we can bounce things off one another before we go to other clubs in the marketplace and try to find a way to improve the team with limited cap space.
Last season, Toronto acted as a middleman to retain salary at the trade deadline to enable Vegas to acquire goalie Robin Lehner from the Chicago Blackhawks. Dubas did not rule out the Leafs using a similar tactic this year, but admitted that it would be more difficult this time around.
I think the hindrance on that would be that I don't know many teams that have that cap space available to serve in that role, but we would explore everything we possibly could, if it meant improving the team.
Dubas indicated that with the 14-day quarantine for players coming in from the US still in place, that his preference would be to make a deal sooner rather than closer to the deadline, where the player would not be available to practice or skate until just before the playoffs.
There have been reports that the Canadian clubs have petitioned the government to reduce the quarantine to seven days, but the Leafs GM is not operating under the assumption that will happen.
I know that in the bubble in the summer and then again in training camp, there was a modified quarantine because of the level of testing that our players and people are doing, which is daily. They did allow it, because once you tested for seven days and you were clear, you're allowed to go between home and the rink. That was in the summer and then again in January. but that's elapsed now. So that was something that was worked out with the NHL and the Government of Canada, and so will will continue to abide by the current rules until they tell us that they're different.
*******
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******