EXCLUSIVE: Maple leafs have completed the deals of two defensive men.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to improve their defense corps during the offseason and according to reports they will be big players in the free-agent market.
Former NHL player and current analyst Nick Kypreos of the Toronto Star reported on June 13 that the Leafs will pursue two top defensemen in free agency.
Those two players would be Brandon Montour of the Florida Panthers and Chris Tanev of the Dallas Stars. Both will become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
“It’s no secret the Leafs will be targeting Florida’s Montour if the pending free agent remains unsigned after this Cup final,” Kypreos wrote. “Chris Tanev is another name that never left (Maple Leafs GM Brad) Treliving’s radar.”
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirmed the Leafs’ interest in multiple top-tier defensemen appearing on the Leafs Morning Take podcast on June 12, mentioning Montour and Tanev among other blueliners.
“I think they like (Nikita) Zadorov, (Chris) Tanev, (Brandon) Montour, (Brett) Pesce, (Sean) Walker, I think they like all these guys,” Friedman said. “I did have people say to me–they think Toronto is going to go out to try to get two really good defensemen in the UFA market and they’re going to be a force when it comes to some of those names.”
Kypreos believes the Leafs could sign both Tanev and Montour for a combined cap hit in the $12-to-13 million range. That’s certainly doable if only because of Toronto’s current cap space. PuckPedia projects the Leafs to enter the offseason with $19.7 million of cap space.
“It’s conceivable the Leafs could land both with a combined spend of $12 million to $13 million of the roughly $19 million in cap space that’s available to them,” Kypreos wrote.
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