Maple Leafs trade first-round pick to Ducks for two picks

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The Maple Leafs made a trade on Friday night.

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No, it didn’t involve Mitch Marner.

Originally slated to pick No. 23 in the first round of the National Hockey League draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas, the Leafs traded the selection to the Anaheim Ducks.

In return, the Leafs received picks No. 31 and No. 58 in the 2024 draft.

General manager Brad Treliving had spoken this week of acquiring more draft choices if the chance arose. He said he was not opposed to trading the pick, but figured he would be making a selection.

“The next step is looking to possibly acquire more draft capital,” Treliving said. “We’ll see.”

The Ducks used the pick to take Norwegian defenceman Stian Solberg, a hard-hitting player who might have looked good, eventually, in a Leafs sweater. Toronto, obviously, thought otherwise.

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It’s possible, too, that one player the Leafs liked a lot more than anyone else was gone by the time they were supposed to pick 23rd.

The Leafs, before the trade with Anaheim, were not going to be picking again until No. 120 on Saturday.

SUPPORTING MARNER

Auston Matthews, to no surprise, threw his weight behind Marner on Friday in Las Vegas.

Though Matthews preferred to speak about the Four Nations Faceoff — and he avoided a question regarding the firing of Sheldon Keefe and hiring of Craig Berube as coach — he did answer a question regarding Marner.

“All I’m going to say is we love Mitch, obviously,” Marner said. “There is a lot of noise involving all that. We love Mitchy. He’s a great person, a great teammate and I can’t speak highly enough about him.”

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Depending on which way the wind is blowing in speculation, Treliving is attempting to trade Marner or is thinking about trying to sign him to a contract extension.

What we can glean from the Marner situation is there probably won’t be a resolution, not that we think it’s a problem, any time soon. A trade would take some time to consummate and there has been no indication that Marner would be willing to waive his no-move clause.

Marner’s intention, at the least, has been to play the last season of his contract in Toronto. There has been nothing to indicate, either, a change in that.

FORWARD THINKING?

We have a question or two for those who think the Leafs will “circle back” to Tyler Bertuzzi and/or Max Domi once Treliving fulfills his need on the blue line in free agency on Monday.

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How much patience are Bertuzzi and Domi expected to have before they might come to realize it’s not going to happen in Toronto? Will the players be willing to watch potential offers from other teams dry up simply because the Leafs might get around to making a deal with them? It kind of defies belief, no matter how much each player wants to remain with the Leafs.

From a source close to the Bertuzzi talks, when we asked on Friday if a contract with the Leafs could be done before free agency opens, there was this answer: “Hard to say.”

If Treliving makes good on his wish to reshape his blue line, there won’t be enough money to sign both Bertuzzi and Domi, and there might not be enough to sign one. Treliving has approximately $19 million under the salary cap at his disposal.

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If Treliving is serious about making his defence corps better, and all signs point to that, it would make little sense for him to sign either Bertuzzi or Domi before Monday.

A contract for Chris Tanev, a player that Treliving has coveted for months, could come with an average annual value in the range of $4.5 million. Nikita Zadorov, another defenceman that Treliving likes, could have an AAV somewhere around $5 million.

And Treliving needs to sign at least one goalie as well.

Domi has played for seven teams in the NHL, breaking in with the Arizona Coyotes in 2015. His longest contract was the three-year entry-level pact he signed with the Coyotes. Since, he has signed two two-year contracts and two one-year deals. He had 47 points in 80 games for the Leafs last season. Is that enough to earn him a four-year contract with Toronto, as has been speculated? We don’t think so.

tkoshan@postmedia.com
X: @koshtorontosun

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