UPDATE: 4pm:
Per TSN's Darren Dreger, Brandon Wheat Kings Owner/GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon will not be joining the Toronto Maple Leafs management staff and will stay with the WHL club.
McCrimmon was offered a position with the Leafs in a capacity equal to Mark Hunter, the club's Director of Player Personnel. Even though McCrimmon was not a candidate for the club's vacant GM position, it was thought that his hiring could lead to Shanahan being the de facto GM with McCrimmon, Hunter and assistant GM Kyle Dubas divvying up the responsibilities.
This decision increases the chances that Toronto will bring either Kings VP of Hockey Operations Mike Futa or former Washington GM George McPhee after July 1.
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At the end of last season and the days leading up to the NHL Draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs management team has shown they are not simply relying on just conventional methods to add talent to their roster.
There is a growing anticipation for what the club will get in trades for core players Phil Kessel, Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak and/or Joffrey Lupul, whether it be another organization’s top prospects or multiple draft picks, but Toronto does not appear to be relying solely on the return in those deals or adding future building blocks through the draft over the next few years to bring them back to the promised land.
Under Brendan Shanahan and assistant GM Kyle Dubas, the Leafs have gotten more aggressive in bringing in undrafted free agents, whether it be late AHL roster additions like 20-year-old Erik Bradford or 21-year-old winger Jack Rodewald, or signings that could be additions for the Leafs in KHLer Nikita Soshnikov or NCAA prospect Casey Bailey.
Prior to the weekend, the club moved minor-leaguer Greg McKegg to Florida for the rights to University of Michigan leading scorer Zach Hyman and wooed KHL free agent defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
The 23-year-old Hyman(a Toronto native) was slated to become an unrestricted free agent in August after telling the Panthers that he would not sign with them, but is likely to get a contract done with the Leafs and get a long look at training camp.
Zaitsev, 23, has another season to go on a contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL, but Toronto went all out to impress the defenseman, who had previously attracted interest from the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres.
“I can’t sign anything now but I visited (the) Leafs and was pleasantly shocked by the reception. Zaitsev said to reporter Igor Eronko. “‘I visited (the) Leafs office and the arena, locker-room, talked to GM and the head coach and was very impressed.…
The right-handed shooting blueliner is not able to sign a deal until 2016 when his KHL deal expires, but Toronto now has to be considered the front-runner.
“(The) Leafs were the only team that had a real big interest in me. I did some tests during the visit.… Zaitsev said. “‘I want to leave the KHL as a winner and I’ll spend the year in Russia to be absolutely prepared for the NHL.…
You can expect the Leafs to continue to be looking to exploit every avenue available to them to add new players this summer and may create room by moving out players like McKegg, who were drafted or acquired by previous Toronto management teams.
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While teams in need of a boost in scoring like the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators are expected to be the front runners in a deal for Phil Kessel, the Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette’s Dave Molinari reported Monday that the Penguins are believed to have kicked the tires on trading for the Leafs winger.
Pittsburgh is not exactly in the best financial position to take on Kessel’s $8 Million salary with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang making over $7 Million per season and Marc-Andre Fleury entering the first year of a four-year contract extension, but Toronto’s willingness to take back a bad contract could make a deal possible.
Wingers Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis are slated to make close to $4 Million the next two seasons and appear to be in decline, while veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi makes $3.375 Million until the end of the 2016-17 season.
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