The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be making a trade soon.
The reason I know that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to make a trade sooner than later is because it’s obvious that their blue-line is not up to the standards of a Cup Contender.
Also, they are almost $3 million over the salary cap (minus Martin Jones cap hit) and their new GM hasn’t even made a trade yet.
If I was the GM of the Leafs, I would make a trade on my first day, so you know Brad Treliving has got to be itching to pull the trigger.
With that in mind, here is your latest edition of….
Toronto Maple Leafs (and NHL) Rumour Round-Up
The biggest name out there right now – and this isn’t so much a trade as a signing – is Patrick Kane.
The future Hall of Famer is rehabbing an injury in Toronto and so of course there are tons of rumours that the Toronto Maple Leafs will eventually sign him.
TSN’s Darren Dreger says he likely won’t make a decision until October at the earliest.
The Leafs made the rumour mill a second time this week when Calle Jarnkrok was a no-show at Wednesday’s practice. The Leafs are over the cap and so instantly a hockey world hungry for the tiniest bit of Leafs News went into overdrive.
So far there is nothing doing, but Jarnkrok makes over $2 million and is an obvious choice to help the Leafs get under the cap.
Around the league, Broadstreet Hockey is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers, who have basically no chance of making the playoffs this season, are interested in Shane Pinto, from the Ottawa Senators, who suddenly do.
Obviously a Shane Pinto trade barely qualifies as interesting, but it has been such a long summer and people just want to talk hockey, even if the trade rumours aren’t quite as interesting right now as they are at pretty much every other time of year.
(What I mean by that is that big names rarely get moved at the start of the season, when teams are optimistic and have had six months off to get ready. Most of this time of the year’s rumours are about fringe players or guys who don’t have a contract).
Speaking of someone who doesn’t have a contract, Trevor Zegras would certainly be a world-shaking trade, but he’s an RFA and it’s unlikely that Anaheim would move him.