Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period was on with Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and was asked what’s next for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Is it only a top six winger the Leafs are after?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs GM on Filling the Top-Six Hole
Anthony Stewart: “What are your thoughts on Toronto, and do they find that top-six winger that has been eluding them to date.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah. I mean, that’s next on their list. They’re considered one of the teams which can be beginning to, or were starting to go searching the trade market more so than the free agent market to usher in a top six winger so as to add to their group. In a word, over the past couple of days, began to suggest that a few of those free agents either were fascinated with going to the Leafs or exploring other options.
Obviously, we saw (Brock) Boeser stay in Vancouver, (Brad) Marchand stays in Florida, and so forth, so on. In order that they began to explore the trade market. In order that they took quite a lot of deal with depth pieces. Right away, from a free agent standpoint, I feel anything that they fight to do, from an impact side of things, they’re going to proceed to explore the trade market to see what’s on the market and available to them.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Vancouver Canucks
I feel they poked around on (Nikolaj) Ehlers. I’m undecided where that’s gone, to be totally frank. But I do know that they’ve been beginning to poke around, look to see what options could also be available to them as they fight to fish for a top-six guy, a winger to usher in.
The issue is that they don’t have a ton of assets. And so they could sit back and see if a chance pops up in a while in the summertime, or wait for next season and see if a child like Easton Cowan can claim considered one of those spots internally.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The Toronto Maple Leafs proceed to search for a top-six winger even after the addition of Matias Maccelli from the Utah Mammoth. Toronto is connected to a few of the remaining unrestricted free agents, including Jack Roslovic. Not to say, though he doesn’t fit the top-six role, there are rumblings that they wish to bring back Max Pacioretty on their bottom six. But because the old saying goes, top six forwards don’t grow on trees, and costs remain steep. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Maple Leafs fulfill this need.
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