After a two-day break, the Stanley Cup Final is set to resume as the Florida Panthers will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead against the Florida Panthers.
For the Edmonton Oilers, Game 4 is everything. The term ‘must win’ is cliché, but this one should be considered pretty damn close to that for McDavid and company.
At any rate, we kicked off the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take by discussing the supposed leaked picture of Connor Hellebuyck posing with both the Vezina Trophy and the Hart Trophy. If the picture’s real, it’s unfortunate that we found out that way, but it is what it is. Of course, the irony of it all is that the soon to be back-to-back Vezina winner is coming off another dismal display in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Winnipeg Jets. It’s okay, we love and appreciate regular season success in these parts. Jokes aside, Hellebuyck deserves all the hardware. He was tremendous this season.
After that, we got into the major discussion point of the show: TRADE TARGETS. One by one, we debated some names that could potentially interest the Maple Leafs on the trade front. Jonathan Marchessault intrigues Rosey, Mason Marchment is a guy I would love to see come back to Toronto. Can you believe he was dealt for Denis Malgin back in the day? Wild stuff. Furthermore, we explored other names such as Mika Zibanejad, Vladimir Tarasenko, William Karlsson, and Jared McMann. Our chat produced some strong content as well. Any way you slice it, Brad Treliving and Craig Berube need to be creative in their quest to change some of the DNA of the team this summer.
Meantime, to get something, you have to give something. With that in mind, we talked about some names that could tickle the fancy of opposing teams around the league. When you break it down, the Leafs don’t really have much to play with —unless they’re open to trading prospect capital like Easton Cowan and Ben Danford. Having said that, we both agreed that Bobby McMann, who has one year left on his current deal at $1.35 million, could prove to be a useful trade chip. It would stink to see him go, but if you have a chance to improve the roster, you have to at least contemplate such a decision.
Carter Hutton will be in for Jay Rosehill on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take. In addition to recapping Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, TSN’s Craig Button will drop by to dish on the Maple Leafs. Talk then!
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