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Per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Maple Leafs will announce the promotion of Kyle Dubas to general manager today.
will update
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to dip into the European free agent pool, as they have done many times in the Brendan Shanahan era, but there still has not been any confirmation of deals being finalized with a pair of players rumored to be heading to Leafs.
Reports out of Sweden last week indicated that Toronto would be signing 26-year-old center Par Lindholm to a contract, who scored a career-high 47 points (18 goals, 29 assists) with Skelleftea of the Swedish Hockey League last season.
Lindholm played for Sweden in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea last February, but is not a member of Tre Kronor at the World Championships in Denmark, which might have caused a delay in the announcement of the signing.
It is not known if there is a snag in the rumored signing, but based on the Leafs depth chart at center, Lindholm would have a good chance to compete for a depth position up the middle with Marlies Miro Aaltonen and Frederik Gauthier and possibly 2014 draft pick Dakota Joshua, if the Leafs sign the Ohio State forward after his successful junior season with the Buckeyes.
According to an interview on the Russian website Championat Ozhiganov’s representative Dan Milstein is in communication with the Leafs, but a contract has not been agreed to and the defenseman was free to sign a deal after his KHL team had been eliminated.
The rumors of the Leafs interest in Ozhiganov stretched as far back as last summer, when reports indicated that Shanahan and former GM Lou Lamoriello went to Russia, who along with Zaitsev attempted to woo the defenseman to come to Toronto.
The pursuit was very similar to that of their pursuit of Zaitsev in the summer of 2015 prior to his last KHL season with CSKA. From that point forward, rumors persisted that Toronto would be the destination and Zaitsev finally signed with the Leafs in May 2016 after the Gagarin Cup Final.
The fact that Ozhiganov has not signed on the dotted line could simply be logistical, or it may raise the question whether he is having second thoughts about joining the Leafs and possibly remaining in Russia.
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