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It is always wise to pay attention to the dominoes falling to get an idea of what possibly will occur in the summer trade market.
The Montreal Canadiens re-upping of Jeff Petry to the tune of $33 Million over six years makes the list of available defenseman one name shorter and gives free agent blueliners Cody Franson, Mike Green and Andrej Sekera more leverage to extract more dollars and more years when July 1 rolls around.
NHL teams looking for defensive help have paid a heavy price in free agency the last 12 months.
Washington spent more than $11 Million to bring in Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik last summer(which is more than Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane make), the Islanders swapped draft picks to acquire Nick Leddy from Chicago and Johnny Boychuk from Boston and extended both, while LA and New York traded their first round picks for Sekera and Keith Yandle.
With Petry's new deal as yet another benchmark, offensive defenseman like Franson and Sekera should be able to find a club to give them at least $5 Million per season and perhaps more. A greater than $5 Million price tag all but rules out Franson returning to Toronto, but his recent expression of interest to return to the Leafs was as much salesmanship as it was sincere.
Once the rather shallow free agent blueline pool has evaporated, teams looking for help will undoubtedly turn to the trade market, which is where the Toronto Maple Leafs may be well positioned to get a good return for defenseman like Dion Phaneuf or Jake Gardiner.
Phaneuf's $7 Million salary and six remaining years may still necessitate Toronto taking back a significant salary in a deal, but there will be takers. Gardiner four years left at $4.025 Million may look like a bargain compared to some of the signings recently and the 24 year old defenseman still has admirers around the league.
If the only roadblock preventing the Leafs from trading Phaneuf was a concern that there would be little interest, signings like Petry make that concern less likely.
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Toronto’s management team are in attendance at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo to interview and make final evaluations on players that the club may select with their two first round picks at the upcoming NHL Draft in Sunrise, FL on June 26-27.
One interesting dynamic is the friendship and rivalry of GTA natives Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner, who are on the radar of both the Arizona Coyotes (third overall) and the Maple Leafs at #4. The pair faced each other many times in the GTHL, but struck up a friendship after playing on the same line in recent tournaments and the CHL Top Prospects game in St. Catharines last January.
According to Michael Traikos of the National Post Strome and Marner are scheduled to interview almost every team this week, but each have one that they are looking forward to with more anticipation.
“(Strome’s) big one’s Arizona,… Marner said. “And mine’s Toronto.…
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Quick Stanley Cup Final Prediction
There is no doubting the Chicago Blackhawks championship pedigree and that this current club will be motivated to win their third Cup in six years in the face of another cap-induced reset, but the minutes that the Hawks defense have been playing through three rounds may finally catch up to them against the speedy Lightning.
Tampa may have learned their lesson against New York that they cannot open the throttle wide open and try to beat teams with just offense, because the sometimes offensively challenged Rangers scored a dozen goals in Games 4 and 6 when they tried.
This will be a series where speed and skill will be on full display and the predictions of a short series are off target.
This series should go 6 or 7 and if fatigue finally does settle in on Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson, Tampa Bay will win.
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