SAD NEWS: Mitchell Marner has been fired from the team of toronto maple leafs today due to……..Read More..
Could the Toronto Maple Leafs land Jake Guentzel in free agency?
According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Leafs are one of several teams that could take a run at landing the two-way forward.
“There are more than a handful of teams expected to be in the mix for the Stanley Cup-winning winger,” Seravalli wrote on Tuesday. “If the Toronto Maple Leafs trade Mitch Marner, they could be players.”
“…It’s going to give them some belief, but certainly it’ll be a tough test going back to Florida. But you know, all you do is you go out there and play the game and give it everything you got and you see what happens,” Tavares said.
“I’m neutral, you know, the Leafs, we’re not there. It doesn’t matter to me, but I know, obviously, a lot of people across Canada are really excited about having a Canadian team in the final and pulling for Edmonton, so we’ll see what happens,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Oilers fans are holding on to high hopes for a win and a chance to secure the Cup for Canadians for the first time in 31 years.
We know Treliving is intrigued by the possibility. And we know Nylander will happily play anywhere he’s asked.
Among the more essential reasons to give it a go, for real this time: The Leafs have other big, pressing needs to address this summer — two top-four defencemen, a goalie and better supporting depth on the wing — and less than $20 million (barring a Mitch Marner trade) to spend.
Slide Nylander from right wing to centre and Treliving doesn’t need to allocate any of those dollars to one of the centres slated to be available in free agency. The Leafs GM can spend that money — likely $5 million-plus — elsewhere.
Barring a trade or multiple, there won’t be room to sign, say, Chris Tanev and one of the other marquee free-agent defencemen, a goalie like Laurent Brossoit, a winger like David Perron or Dakota Joshua, and a centre.
That’s another consideration here: The free-agent class at centre is more fine than exciting.
There are reasons for the Leafs to sign any one of Chandler Stephenson, Elias Lindholm, Matt Duchene, Alex Wennberg, Adam Henrique or Steven Stamkos. There are also reasons not to go there — to not pay up — in every case.
The only true second-line centre in the UFA bunch is, arguably, Lindholm and he’s bound to get a larger, longer contract at age 30 (in December) than he’s probably worth.
