On the Vancouver Canucks …
TSN Radio Vancouver: Defenseman Alex Edler on waiving his no-trade clause: “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it”
Defenseman Chris Tanev on his no-trade clause: “I won’t be focused on it. But it’s a business”
Jason Brough: “I might wait til next summer to trade Edler. Remember, he can sign an extension then. Plus, might give him a year to mentor Juolevi.”
On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 590 on the Toronto Maple Leafs and their pending seven year, $4.5 million per contract extension for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
“Because it’s not official yet, nobody is really commenting on the process,” indicated Friedman. “But the way I look at it probably is this: First of all, everybody says he’s a rookie. Yes, but an unrestricted free agent in a couple of years because he came over later. So it’s not like we’re getting away in this one without term. If Toronto really wanted him, they were going to have to cough up term.”
Friedman adds the Leafs are giving him seven years to keep the salary cap hit down.
Connor Brown and Zach Hyman are pending RFAs for the Leafs.
The Leafs will have bonus overages that will count against next years salary cap, and the farther they get in the playoffs, the more they will incur.
Brown will get a big raise on his next deal. The Leafs will have to base future decisions on how much they are going to have to pay Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander on their next deals.
“JVR – I think it’s going to be interesting. The Maple Leafs, because of the salary cap and the way it goes with your entry-level contracts, at some point the Maple Leafs are going to have to sit down and say, ‘Are we going for it the next two years.’ And I think the answer has to be yes because you know you’re never going to have these guys making this salary again.
“So my question is do you keep van Riemsdyk because you like his goal scoring and say, ‘Okay, we’ll take the chance of losing him for nothing, but we’ll take the salary it opens up when he leaves. Or do we trade him for something and say we can’t lose him for nothing, or we could flip him for something else we need.’
“It’s going to be a big decision for them.”
