With one month to go until the NHL trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs are attracting legions of scouts and after losing their ninth straight game on Saturday, the time may be drawing near for GM Dave Nonis to start moving pending free agents to allow opportunities for young players in the organization to gain NHL experience.
On Saturday, St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong and newly hired assistant Martin Brodeur took in the Leafs – Flyers game in Philadelphia to evaluate both clubs who are likely not bound for the post-season. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on Monday that the Blues might have interest in veteran winger Joffrey Lupul, but also could be eyeing forwards Mike Santorelli and Daniel Winnik, who are free agents at the end of the season.
While Lupul has high-end offensive talent, his injury history (on the IR twice this season) and contract (three more years at $5.25 Million) may be impediments to getting a deal done, unless Toronto is willing to take a significant contract back or pay a portion of Lupul’s salary.
The odds of defenseman Cody Franson being in Blue and White past March 2nd became longer over the weekend, as the big defenseman rejected a three-year offer from the Leafs for $4.6 Million per season.
The proposed deal is probably half the length and $1 Million short of what it will take to get the 26-year-old defenseman locked up, but there continues to be doubts whether Toronto is serious about re-signing the blueliner or is just posturing to extract a higher price in a trade.
One factor in the Maple Leafs trading Franson is how much they can get in return. According to the Toronto Sun’s Lance Hornby, league sources say that Toronto is looking for a second round pick in return, but it is likely that is the starting price for the pending UFA and that the cost will go up as bidding continues up until the deadline.
A new long-term deal for Franson is unlikely with both Dion Phaneuf and Jake Gardiner locked up for four years or more. If Toronto is serious about keeping the right-handed defenseman, trading one of the two defensemen might be an option to open up salary cap room, but that depends on what direction Team President Brendan Shanahan is pursuing in the future.
If the determination has been made to make significant changes to the core group of the current club, then the direction could be to trade Franson at the deadline, move veterans Phaneuf and Stephane Robidas now or over the summer and rebuild the Leafs defensive core around Gardiner and sophomore Morgan Rielly.
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