Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Elliotte Friedman on the Toronto Maple Leafs and what they could be looking at doing before the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Justin Cuthbert: “Have you heard anything about the possibility of the Leafs maybe moving a defenseman given that they have a surplus and clearly they prefer it one way compared to what you know what they have right now?
Friedman: “Well I think right now is, one of the issues is simply been Justin, the guys keep getting hurt, right? And if you look the other night, you go back they lose that game to Boston. And he says. Sheldon Keefe says, we couldn’t defend in front of our net, right?
And that’s what Joel Edmundson does really well. Like I think there’s a very short line between what, what he said and what they did . Like for everything you want to say about Joel Edmundson, positive or negative. If there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s clear bodies out of the front of the net. And I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Look do I, the one thing is, do I think he would move a defenseman? Yeah, I think potentially he would. I think (Leafs GM Brad) Treliving’s shown he would do anything, but the bottom line is, I think there’s two things at play here, Justin. Number one, for the most part, this team has overachieved this year with a lot of the issues they have faced, and I think he’s, I think he’s thinks about that.
And number two, you can this team is proven this year that you can never have too many defenseman. Like, you know, how many times have they thought, Okay, we’ve got a full group of D, and then (Mark) Giordano gets hurt or (Timothy) Liljegren gets hurt or the (Ilya) Lyubushkin gets hurt, luckily, not seriously in the first game he plays with them.
I think, and I still think he’s looking for a righty. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. So depending on what’s available in terms of a right-hander, that could determine what he does here.
Ailish Forfar: “Last one on the Lafs before we move to across the NHL, but obviously defense has been the main priority. Do you think there’s a chance that they add any depth forward? Centerman, I know we’ve been talking about that a little bit before tomorrow at 3pm.
Friedman: “Yeah, so I wondered about (Nic) Dowd from Washington. As a matter of fact, when I first heard that they acquired Edmundson , I wondered if there was any chance that they were going to do both of them. But you know, that obviously didn’t happen. I have wondered about Dowd from Washington.
You know, the player who was traded today from Nashville to Colorado, (Yakov) Trenin. That’s another guy who I wondered, would be on Toronto’s radar. Like that’s the kind of guy that Treliving really likes. He’s a banger. A pretty good one.
And I think we’re all kind of watching to see what happens over the next 24 hours with (Alexandre) Carrier from Nashville because I think there’s a few teams, and Toronto is one of them, whose kind of looked at him. So I think those are, and there’s a chance he could either re-sign or he could be dealt.
So. Yes, I do think they can say continue to look for depth forward and whether it’s a center or something like that. I think both of those things. I think that still remains on Toronto’s radar.”
