The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a deal with the Florida Panthers, but it was not the big trade for Phil Kessel that many were expecting.
The Leafs have traded center Greg McKegg for unsigned college prospect Zach Hyman and a conditional 2017 seventh round pick.
The 23-year-old McKegg(Toronto's 3rd round pick in 2010) scored 22 goals in 62 games in his third professional season with the AHL Marlies last season, and played three games for the Leafs. The St. Thomas, ON native was a restricted free agent after the expiration of his entry-level deal and had not shown any indications of being a legitimate NHL prospect.
Hyman notified the Panthers that he would not sign with them after completing his senior season at the University of Michigan prior to the August 15th deadline, freeing the 23-year-old Toronto native to sign an entry-level deal with another NHL club.
A First Team All-American, Hyman led the Wolverines with 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) and was named a top ten finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
It's not quite done deal as in a signed contract but Zach Hyman and TOR have framework in place. His 2-year entry level deal will get done.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 19, 2015*******
The Maple Leafs are expecting to get a sizable return of young assets in a trade for winger Phil Kessel leading up to or at the NHL Draft in Sunrise, FL next weekend, but rival NHL executives are leaking that the club’s asking price is too high for the 27-year-old winger.
ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the Leafs are looking to acquire additional picks in the upcoming draft as part of the package for Kessel, who finished in the top 10 of NHL scoring three years in a row before slumping to 61 points in 2014-15.
Toronto is very likely looking for a young NHL roster player, a top prospect and a high draft choice for Kessel and might be willing to take back a bad contract in return, but wants to avoid retaining any of his $8 Million salary over the next seven years.
"They’re going to have to eat more of his salary than they think right now," A rival executive said to LeBrun.
Although the Leafs will try to avoid taking back a salaried player to give the club immediate cap flexibility, a bad contract running three or four years while the club rebuilds may be the price that Toronto has to pay to get a suitable package of future assets. That would be preferable than taking a cap hit of $1-2 Million lasting the full length of the contract, which would encroach into the years when the Leafs hope to be competitive.
Kessel has a limited eight-team trade list (Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Montreal and Pittsburgh) and most of those teams do not have the room to accommodate his hefty salary or interest, which means the winger would have to sign off on a deal to a team such as Florida or Nashville not listed.
The buzz about Toronto’s asking price being too high is indicative of an attempt to soften the particulars of the deal through the media and put pressure on an inexperienced management team headed by Brendan Shanahan to bend on the asking price.
Shanahan has taken a broom to almost every area of the Leafs organization in the last 14 months and it is logical to assume there to be some anxiousness to start cleaning out the roster, but not getting enough for Kessel could be just as detrimental to Toronto’s future as the draft picks they gave up to acquire him nearly six years ago.
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Independent of the rumors that goalie Jonathan Bernier was on the trade block since his 10 month old son was not wearing a Blue and White onesie, the Maple Leafs filed for club-elected salary arbitration with the restricted free agent on Thursday.
The decision is different than extending a qualifying offer of a 10% increase to Bernier, which would still allow the 26-year-old to hold out or sign an offer sheet with another NHL club. It guarantees that the two sides would have a deal in place for next season even if they fail to agree on terms before a hearing next month.
The last instance of club-elected arbitration being used was with the Colorado Avalanche and Ryan O’Reilly last summer, because the Avs wanted to avoid a second offer sheet scenario and did not want to qualify the RFA center for more than the $6 Million salary of top center Matt Duchene.
The situation with the Leafs and Bernier is not nearly as acrimonious as between Colorado and O’Reilly(who will likely be traded this summer)and Toronto is continuing to negotiate with agent Pat Brisson on a new contract.
The possibility of the Leafs trading Bernier is remote but not impossible. According to Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons , Toronto is not actively shopping the goaltender, but have received inquiries from other clubs.
The market for goalies could be brisk in the next few weeks, as a number of backup goalies with upside(Cam Talbot, Eddie Lack, Robin Lehner, John Gibson) and veteran starters(free agents Antti Niemi and Devan Dubnyk, Kari Lehtonen, Craig Anderson, Jimmy Howard) could be on the move, but unless a team is prepared to offer a significant return for someone the Leafs believe can be a top end NHL goalie, Bernier will not be joining that list.
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