Leafs Trade Deadline
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been hovering a playoff berth all season, but could never find the consistency to secure one for sure. As a result, we had to make a decision ahead of this year's trade deadline. Should we load up on additional talent in our chase of a postseason appearance, or should we sell our pending UFAs and focus on next season? It was a tough question we pondered for a while. Eventually, we decided to go with the second option.
IN
Wayne Simmonds
Jake DeBrusk
Jake Walman
2016 2nd round pick (WSH)
2016 2nd round pick (TB)
2016 3rd round pick (PHI)
2017 1st round pick (TOR)
2017 2nd round pick (TB)
OUT
Blake Wheeler
Mikkel Boedker
Jiri Hudler
Radim Vrbata
2016 3rd round pick (TOR)
2016 5th round pick (NYR)
2016 5th round pick (OTT)
FREE AGENT SIGNINGS
Daniel Pribyl
Jordan Maletta
Dylan Gambrell
Nick Seeler
Michael Brodzinski
So in addition to our pending UFAs Hudler and Vrbata, we also shipped out two other top 6 forwards in Wheeler and Boedker. In return, we got Simmonds, a 1st and three 2nds ... as a result, we have lost a lot of firepower up front, but are way more flexible going into the offseason. We'll have a lot of cap space on our hands and have quite a few future assets to work with in trade negotiations, and we are confident that we'll be able to build a strong 2016-17 team this summer.
Currently, we are 8th in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets ... if we could hold on to that 8th spot and still make the playoffs, we'd be over the moon!
Thanks to all the GMs for interesting negotiations and trade talks. It's a fun group of active GMs right now and I'm already looking forward to the offseason trade madness!!!
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