A quiet trade deadline day for the Toronto Maple Leafs? …
NHL.com: Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock was on TSN 1050 talking about what they may be thinking leading up to trade deadline day.
“Right now, if anybody is looking for us to be in the news on trade deadline day, I would find something else to do,” Babcock said.
They will not accelerate their rebuilding plan because they are currently in the wildcard position heading into the weekend.
“We’ve got a long-term plan here,” Babcock said. “We would like to do anything we can to be in the playoffs that wouldn’t get in the way of our long-term plans.
“People can speculate, but the reality is you look at our group and I think this is our group moving ahead. What we can do in the offseason to help ourselves, that is a big job for our management team.”
Is it time to break up the Philadelphia Flyers?…
Sam Carchidi of Philly.com: Philadelphia is slipping away from the playoff race a bit but is it time to sell? 24 games are left but the Flyers are 8-14-4 since their streak. Their identity has been lost and too many players are struggling at once. All hope is not gone yet. However, time is of the essence.
Carchidi thinks that GM Ron Hextall has to consider selling at this juncture. He pending free agent defensemen and goalies who may be able to fetch some return. Michael Del Zotto, Nick Schultz, Mark Streit could be worth an asset.
Philadelphia should trade one of their goalies. He’d need to bring back a goalie that they can expose them for the expansion draft, which would allow them to protect Anthony Stolarz.
Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason are pending UFAs and the Oilers are said to be looking for a backup goalie.
One of the core players may even need to go, though that might be a tougher sell.
