The Toronto Maple Leafs made the first of what is expected to be many trades on Friday, as the club traded minor league forwards Carter Ashton and David Broll to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a conditional 2016 7th round draft pick.
The 23-year-old Ashton is going back to the organization that drafted him in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Ashton continues to have success at the AHL level, as he has scored 20 goals in 36 games with the Toronto Marlies, but has not shown anything in the NHL, with only three assists in 54 career games.
The 22-year-old Broll played five games for the Leafs early in the 2013-14 season, but scored only three goals in 94 career games with the Marlies. The Mississauga, Ontario native was playing for the ECHL Orlando Solar Bears.
According to the Tampa Tribune's Eric Erlendsson, Ashton would have to appear in 15 games with the Lightning next season for the Leafs to receive the conditional pick.
The likely motivation for this deal is not the conditional pick, but the moving out of two professional contracts. Ashton is a restricted free agent and it is possible that the club may have not extended a qualifying offer to the winger, while Broll has another year on his three-year entry level deal.
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The focus of NHL news on Friday was Winnipeg Jets forward Evander Kane, who instead of being a target of trade speculation prior to the March 2nd deadline will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. Ongoing problems with the club came to a head on Tuesday when Kane refused to show up for the club’s game in Vancouver and it is a real possibility that the 23-year-old power forward has played his last game in a Jets uniform.
The National Post’s
Although the Leafs are expecting to have a great deal of turnover in their roster and are looking for young players to build around for the future, it is unlikely that they will have any significant interest in the 2009 fourth overall pick. While Kane is a superior hockey talent, Toronto’s top priority is to find that elusive top line center and swapping aged young assets like Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner or James van Riemsdyk to add another scoring winger does not make much sense.
The Jets situation could have an effect on the Leafs in a roundabout way. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff recently scouted Toronto regarding interest in pending free agent winger Daniel Winnik. Kane was primarily playing on the Jets third line and as a penalty killer, a role perfectly suited for the Leafs versatile veteran forward.
With the bevy of young prospects in the Winnipeg organization and a good chance of making the playoffs for the first time since the club moved from Atlanta, the pressure is on Cheveldayoff to make a deal to add a forward and Winnik could be someone that the Jets are willing to the price to obtain immediately.
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Wild Card race
1. WASHINGTON 64, 2. BOSTON 61, 3. FLORIDA 56, 4. PHILADELPHIA 52, 5. OTTAWA 49, 6. TORONTO 48.
Leafs odds of making the playoffs (0.6% per sportsclubstats.com)
McEichel Race – Points(Games Played)
8. OTTAWA 49(50), 7. NEW JERSEY 49(51) 6. TORONTO 48(52) 5. COLUMBUS 45(49), 4. ARIZONA 45(52), 3. CAROLINA 43(51), 2. EDMONTON 37(52), 1. BUFFALO 33(52)
Current Leafs odds at winning Draft Lottery(7.5%)
Thursday's results: Carolina beats Arizona 2-1 in a shootout, but both teams gain ground on Toronto with a three point game. Toronto have a realistic chance of finishing as low as 28th with the Blue Jackets, Coyotes and Hurricanes within five points, but an 11 point gap between Edmonton and Toronto is a bridge too far.
There is also a sizable gap emerging between the Leafs and teams above them in the NHL standings. Four teams are six points ahead of Toronto and have between 2-3 games in hand, Philadelphia earned a point in a shootout loss to the NY Islanders and are four points in front of the Leafs.
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Rumor Updates
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his must read 30 Thoughts column reports that the Leafs did not have interest in swapping team captain Dion Phaneuf to Los Angeles straight up for the recently demoted Mike Richards.
Toronto wanted another piece from the Kings to get the deal done and believe that Phaneuf can bring a good return either before the March 2nd trade deadline or over the summer.
There definitely will be interest in the 29-year-old defenseman from a number of clubs, as the opinion of Phaneuf’s talents around the league and in Toronto are not one in the same, but the deal will not be a salary dump of the remaining six years of the seven-year, $49 Million contract signed in January, 2014, it will have to be a hockey deal where the Leafs take a significant contract back.
Friedman also believes that the Leafs did not extend a serious offer to defenseman Cody Franson last week and that the likely direction of the club is to trade the right-handed shooting defenseman in the next three weeks. Toronto offered a three-year deal in the neighborhood of $4.6 Million per season and the 26-year-old is expected to get offers of six-to-seven years at over $5 Million.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the Nashville Predators have some interest in Franson, but could have as much or more in Winnik or former Nashville draftee Mike Santorelli, as Leafs GM Dave Nonis met with Preds counterpart David Poile in Nashville on Thursday night.
Toronto has not made a contract extension offer to the 29-year-old forward, but Santorelli is expected to be looking for similar numbers that former Leaf Mason Raymond drew as a free agent from the Calgary Flames last summer.
******* The Maple Leafs take on the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Friday and could set a record if they suffer another defeat. Toronto lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Devils on January 28 and could extend their winless streak to 11 games, which would be the longest in the club’s nearly century-long history.
James Reimer, who subbed in for the injured Jonathan Bernier in Nashville on Tuesday and allowed one goal in his last start against Philadelphia last Saturday will get the start for the Leafs, while Cory Schneider will be in goal for the Devils.
Dion Phaneuf did not make the trip to Newark, as the defenseman is still not fully recovered from the upper body injury that has sidelined him since the All-Star break. Devils forward Michael Ryder will be a healthy scratch.
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