On the Toronto Maple Leafs ….
Cap Friendly: The Maple Leafs incurred a bonus overage of $5.37 million last year and it will be applied to next year’s cap number.
The Fourth Period: The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams interested in free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Other interested teams include the Rangers, Sabres and Devils. Shattenkirk could be looking for north of $6 million a season.
Maple Leafs Hot Stove: Pierre LeBrun was on TSN 1050 talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs interest in defenseman Travis Hamonic before he was traded the Flames, and what GM Lou Lamoriello had to say about improving the blue line.
“They tried hard. They were in on it. I haven’t been able to confirm 100% if JVR’s name was a part of that or not. I certainly heard that, but can’t confirm that it was the case. All I can tell you is that, at the end of the draft, I spoke to Lou Lamoriello. He’s not going to confirm he’s in on Hamonic, but generically speaking, you could tell what he was talking about when he said there was a certain price that they’re just not going to pass for the sake of upgrading their blue line. We know what the price was — Garth Snow got it. He got a really nice haul. Snow did a good job driving up that market. It’s a big price to pay, and what Lou Lamoriello made clear after the draft wrapped up was that, to use his words, “We’re not going to jumpstart the process.”
Consider those words for a second. Those are heavy words from the GM of the Leafs. What he’s saying is: I know what you guys want us to do and it’s not like we’re not trying, but we’re not going to lose our minds for the sake of doing it. We’re going to do it when the price is right, but if we have to show up to camp with the same blue line, so be it. That’s not their plan — their plan is to upgrade their blue line — but I’m just saying they haven’t made it a thing that if they don’t do it, they consider this offseason a complete disappointment.”
LeBrun says that the Florida Panthers are open to trading defenseman Jason Demers, maybe this week. He has a list of teams but doesn’t know if the Maple Leafs are on it. LeBrun adds that thinks Demers would fit in Toronto.
