Photo credit: Rogers Sportsnet
According to Elliotte Friedman on Saturday’s Headlines, the Maple Leafs have begun fielding offers with the questions being asked showing where their intentions lie.
It was a rare sight for Maple Leafs fans on Saturday night as the team actually got themselves in the win column albeit against the worst team in the league and needed a shootout to do it.
But a win is a win, and while things aren’t great; it’s a moral victory at least.
Toronto starting the trade conversation ahead of potential sell-off
But until then, it’s still Brad Treliving running the show and he’s got to come to some conclusion about his roster and figure out an approach to the trade deadline.
According to Elliotte Friedman — he’s already starting.
Speaking on Saturday’s Headlines during Toronto and Vancouver’s game, Friedman noted that the Maple Leafs have started the process of feeling out potential offers on their players and are asking the type of questions indicative of a seller:
Everyone has seen the standings. Everyone knows the Maple Leafs are in a position they didn’t expect to be in.
The one thing they’ve done this week is begun the process of calling around to the league and seeing what’s available to them and being in a position where they might have to consider some things they didn’t expect to consider…
I think some of the early conversations are about things you’d expect. But they have begun the conversation of ‘What do you think of our roster? What kind of things are you interested in?’
I don’t think it would be anything that people would call earth-shattering though.
While Friedman admits that nothing in the way of an Auston Matthews or Matthew Knies trade is in the works, it does mean that several of the Maple Leafs roster could be finding new homes in short order.
Toronto needs to make a decision on where their roster stands before Olympics
The team has four days until the roster freeze for the Olympics starts and while it’s unlikely a move is to be made, the more work done now, the less headaches they’ll have.
One caveat that could throw a wrench into things is the health of Oliver Ekman-Larsson after the Olympics. He is one of the best assets Toronto has and is the only Olympian on the team with a chance to be traded; if he gets hurt it could mess a lot up.
But in asking those questions it does send a message that the Maple Leafs may have accepted their fate and realize their best course of action is to sell on what they can and retool both their roster and their draft plans.
They have a few players in the AHL who deserve a look and it would be the perfect time to do so knowing they a) need bodies to play and b) could learn from their mistakes and play the young guys more.
The time is now for the Maple Leafs to get something done and it seems like Brad Treliving is at least trying to get ahead of things while he can.
Whether he actually ends up pulling the trigger though is a whole different ballgame.
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The Leafs have started making trade calls, and the questions being asked reveal what they’re thinking
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