According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, there are serious doubts in Toronto about the makeup of the roster and some real second-guessing when it comes to how this team is going to move forward. Expected to be buyers ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline, and by no means out of the playoff conversation, doubt is now creeping in suggesting the team won’t go all in.
Friedman has contended for some time that this might not be the year that Toronto goes for it. He doubled down on that thought on Friday.
He explains:
“I think Toronto’s thinking bigger picture. I don’t think this is about this year anymore I think they’re thinking about where they’re going. I really wonder if deep down that is an organization is saying we are not good enough to win this year we are resetting and we are reshaping our roster and we’re going to do that.”
He added, the more thought he put into how the William Nylander negotiations went, and getting him sign the new deal, it was about their overall team structure and what it was going to look like so the organization can start to rebuild their roster. You can hear his comments on the 32 Thoughts Podcast below:
Friedman added, “I think before they committed to signing Nylander, they were going over and they went everywhere in the league and said, ‘Is there a defenseman making Nylander’s money or close to it that we can replace it, and those players, they’re not available.”
If a Roster Rest, What Are the Maple Leafs Thinking?
He said the team is now thinking about sign what singles and doubles can we get on the blue line around this group. As for what those singles and doubles are, these could be low-cost rentals that don’t take much in the way of assets to acquire them. Alternatively, the Leafs might try to identify players that are on friendly contracts that could be with the club over the next two or three seasons.
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