The Leafs’ trade deadline plans are being built around an uncomfortable reality
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According to Nick Kypreos, the Toronto Maple Leafs might not have a plan to really retool this deadline, and it’s thanks to someone much higher than even MLSE.
All the noise around the Toronto Maple Leafs this season is where they are headed when it comes to their direction the rest of the year. The Olympics give them some reprieve, however they need to figure out whether they are buyers or sellers.
The team certainly has a lot of interesting assets and veterans they can deal away and if they get lucky, could end up walking away with quite a haul including several draft picks and perhaps a couple young up-and-comers.
Toronto may not have a choice if they want to retool or not
Brad Treliving is going to have his work cut out for him, however a new report shows that although he may want to make some moves — those above him do not.
Those with louder and more powerful voices will have the final say, and while fans are screaming for reconstructive surgery rather than a minimally-invasive procedure, missing the playoffs this season and next season is not an option for MLSE or Rogers.
It’s interesting to hear that although the Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Group were adamant about ‘not selling jerseys’ as a way to relate to fans and focus on the on-ice product; this basically shoots that down in spades.
Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment and lots and lots of money
We know that Keith Pelley really hasn’t done too much but fire Brendan Shanahan and leave Brad Treliving and Craig Berube in charge. There seems to be no real direction for the team, and the attention (and money) seems to be diverted elsewhere.
They can’t afford to lose out on playoff revenue and the extra advertisement money that comes from appearing in the postseason, and with the franchise already making absurd amounts of money, it seems there’s no real limit to their pursuit of wealth.
Going through a retool and/or rebuild means losing out on a couple years of postseason revenue and that’s unacceptable.
Though, this could just be all a plan for them to have a direction in place by the time Auston Matthews’ contract comes up.
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The Leafs’ trade deadline plans are being built around an uncomfortable reality
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