Update 6pm:
On the day before the draft, trade interest in Leafs leading scorer Phil Kessel has picked up and the Pittsburgh Penguins could be amongst a number of teams intrigued by the sniper.
"All I can say is that when you have a guy like that who's such a natural goal scorer in the prime of his career, everybody wants goal scoring," Team President Brendan Shanahan said in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday.
Shanahan indicated to the media that his club was not under any pressure to make a deal that does not meet their price.
"We have time on our side," Shanahan said. "We don't feel that we need to do anything major to get something done on some self-imposed or outer-imposed deadline."
It is likely that Shanahan is attempting to counter the chatter that the Leafs are asking for too much for the winger and that they need to lower their price to get a deal done by the end of the weekend.
The difficulty for the Penguins to fit Kessel's $8 Million salary under the cap would seem to make a trade nearly impossible due to having big ticket items such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury, but Toronto might be willing to take back a short term money hit like the final two years of Pascal Dupuis($3.75 Million) and/or Chris Kunitz($3.85 Million) to balance out the money and get prospects like '14 first rounder Kasperi Kapanen or former first rounder Derrick Pouliot in a deal.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs released their 2015-16 regular season schedule and for the seventh consecutive year, the Blue and White open with a match against the Montreal Canadiens. The traditional rivals will meet at Air Canada Center on Wednesday, October 7.
The Leafs will play 24 of their 82 game schedule on Saturday, nearly double the amount of games than on any other day of the week and play 16 back-to-back games. The club plays the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins five times, while facing their other Atlantic Division rivals four times.
HOME/AWAY BREAKDOWN PER MONTH
OCT 4/6 NOV 8/6 DEC 5/7 JAN 5/7 FEB 6/7 MAR 10/6 APR 3/2
HOME/AWAY BREAKDOWN BY DAYS OF THE WEEK MON 8/3 TUES 6/7 WED 5/6 THU 8/6 FRI 2/4 SAT 12/12 SUN 0/3
Click HERE for the full schedule.
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Most team representatives arrived in Ft Lauderdale, FL by Thursday morning in advance of the NHL Draft on Friday and Saturday. No team is facing greater expectations than the Maple Leafs, not only for the two first round picks to be selected at the BB&T Center on Friday night, but to see if the club is able to initiate the much anticipated trades of core players Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak and Dion Phaneuf whether the teardown of the roster or will linger deep into the summer.
Kessel continues to be the most intriguing of the trade possibilities, as Toronto expects a significant return for the 27-year-old scorer, but teams that may be interested appear to still be trying to get Leafs management to come off their high asking price.
The Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov reported on Wednesday that the host Panthers are not interested in Kessel at the current asking price, which was described as “ridiculous….
Sportsnet’s Damien Cox also indicated that Toronto is looking for at least a second round pick in return for Bozak, who has three years left on his current deal at $4.2 Million.
Another interesting tidbit that could effect the Leafs, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports that the Colorado Avalanche are far apart on negotiations for a new deal and that Avs management sees no option other than trading the 24-year-old pending UFA. O’Reilly is said to be looking for a max eight-year deal for over $60 Million.
Colorado is looking for a left-hand shooting defenseman and reportedly covets Toronto’s Jake Gardiner, but also may have interest in Phaneuf, who will make $7 Million for another six seasons.
Will be updating frequently this weekend, so continue to check back for updates….
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