Despite having $4 million in cap space to spend, the Toronto Maple Leafs are having trouble making a trade. The issue isn’t money or fitting a player onto the roster, it’s the willingness of other GMs to work with the Leafs and help GM Brad Treliving find a defenseman at a fair price.
As Carlo Colaiacovo explained on TSN First Up this past week, opposing managers are trying to “take advantage of the situation.” He adds:
We might, they might have to just go bargain shopping with some guys and just find, maybe just another NHL caliber defenseman instead of a guy that’s that, that’s going to fit the mold of what they’re looking for as a top pairing defenseman.”
He notes, “I honestly think there’s going to be a wait-and-see game here as well too, because you just, like right now, there’s a lot of teams in the mix that still don’t know which direction they want to go.” He’s not the only one to think this. TSN’s Chris Johnston also discussed the difficulties the Maple Leafs are having and said, “I think the reason this, this trade probably doesn’t happen in the short-term for the Leafs is that the selling teams do have pretty high price tags on the sorts of players that they’d be looking at.”
Would the Maple Leafs Be Willing to Overpay?
Colaiacovo explains that unless a compelling offer emerges from the Leafs side, surpassing expectations of the team they are trading with, Treliving is unlikely to make significant moves. He doesn’t believe Toronto is in a position to overspend or buy his way out of the situation Toronto is in. The Leafs will just have to be patient.
Once teams start to realize they are out of the playoff mix and players on their roster hold less value because they won’t be needed for the post-season, Toronto can take advantage of falling prices. Until then, finding serviceable defenseman that can keep the Leafs afloat until things open up is important.
That explains their desire to talk to Ethan Bear and we may hear other smaller-ticket names linked to Toronto over the next few weeks.
Next: John Tavares Joins Exclusive 1,000-Point Club in Dramatic Fashion
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