The Toronto Maple Leafs might just have one of the best hockey players land in their laps.
Over the weekend, Nikita Kucherov dropped the bombshell that he wants out of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. The 33-year-old winger who just won the Hart Trophy months ago is a pending unrestricted free agent and due to the Lightning front office not communicating with him a whole lot about a new contract and general "disrespect", Kucherov wants a trade.
The Maple Leafs have already been considered a landing spot, as it was reported over the weekend that Kucherov would welcome getting sent to Toronto. But now we're getting futher confirmation that it isn't some far-off dream that one of the most talented players this century could join the Leafs. It seems to be a potential reality.
Kucherov wants to join Auston Matthews in Toronto
According to a recent report from RG Media's Daria Tuboltseva, Kucherov's main priorities for a new team is to join another superstar and one source, via the report, directly names Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews as someone he would love to link up with.
"“He wants to be the top scorer every year and play on a team with McDavid or Matthews or Pastrnak, plus in a big market, so people talk about how good he is,” the source told RG. “Playing in Florida, people forget about you from time to time.”"Daria Tuboltseva, RG
That's some aspiration. Maybe the two Stanley Cup rings he won down in Tampa have gotten too rusty and too old for his liking and Kucherov wants to take on a new challenge. To not win a Cup in a city that had to create its own fan base, but in a city that would welcome you with open arms and build statues immediately if you were to bring them a championship.
Toronto is no doubt that place and while we can think a whole lot about what the Leafs would have to give up in a probably painful trade, we might not even have to start thinking about it. According to the report, the Leafs feels like the most realistic option and they wouldn't even have to give up anything to get him. The most likely situation could just be that he signs with the Leafs in the summer.
""Toronto is the more realistic option," the source said. "Not a trade. He will just go there in the summer.""Daria Tuboltseva, RG
That would be something.
Obviously, the Leafs would have to make corresponding moves to then fit in Kucherov, who would probably be making something close to Kirill Kaprizov's $17-million AAV for a few years, but it would no doubt be worth it. He just scored 395 points in 235 games over the last three seasons. He would instantly make the Leafs an even more dangerous team.
If adding Kucherov meant you have to then do everything possible to send Morgan Rielly somewhere else, or even trade newly acquired Kirill Marchenko to a different team (and then get a haul of draft picks and prospects back), then you do it.
It might just end up being a very, very interesting next several months for Kucherov as he inches closer and closer to an exit and Toronto could be his destination.
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