Update: 6pm - Sportsnet's Damien Cox reports that the Leafs asking price for center Tyler Bozak is a second round pick.
Bozak has three years remaining on a five-year contract and has a $4.2 Million cap hit.
Toronto does not have a second round pick in Friday's NHL Draft, as it was traded two summers ago in the deal for Jonathan Bernier.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs may need to be quick on their feet when it comes to who they will select with their fourth overall pick at the NHL Draft in Sunrise, FL on Friday, as the Arizona Coyotes third overall pick could be in play.
Arizona GM Don Maloney is doing his due diligence seeing what the market would be for the pick after Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are off the board and according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Coyotes have an offer to get a top 10 pick and other young assets to move down.
The Columbus Blue Jackets at #8 or Colorado Avalanche at #10 would fit that description, as both clubs are known to be looking for defensive help and would pay the price to get either Noah Hanifin or Ivan Provorov at #3. ESPN’s Craig Custance reports that the Coyotes believe they will get a quality youngster in the first dozen picks, which may explain their willingnesss to move down.
The Blue Jackets are reportedly shopping 2013 first rounder Kerby Rychel and have three second round picks in a deep draft, while Colorado could be shopping pending UFA forward Ryan O’Reilly.
The possibility of a team trading ahead of the Leafs may significantly decrease the chances that they will select a blueliner with both Erie center Dylan Strome and London forward Mitch Marner there when they select at #4.
Leafs Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter indicated that the club will be looking for players with high levels of skill and speed, which could be an indicator of a preference towards Marner(who he drafted as GM of the London Knights), but that does not rule out the bigger, offensively-gifted Strome.
“But when you have a young man like Dylan Strome, who’s 6-3 and oozes hockey sense – he scored 130 points – he’s not the fastest skater, but his thought process is next to none in the draft.” Hunter said to TSN’s Jonas Seigel.
It also could give more impetus to the possibility of Toronto trading down to the lower half of the top 10 if Arizona decides not to move their pick.
The Leafs are in the mindset of accumulating as many young assets as possible and if their internal determinations are that Matthew Barzal or Zach Werenski are as good as Marner or Hanifin, they could get extra draft picks and still get what they consider to be an impact player.
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The Maple Leafs full 2015-16 regular season schedule will be released to the public on Thursday, but the club announced that the home opener will be on Wednesday, October 7 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated that the club’s opener on the road will be on Friday, October 9 at Joe Louis Arena, as Toronto head coach Mike Babcock returns for the first time(if you don’t count the exhibition game the week before).
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Toronto came to terms with forward Zach Hyman, defensemen Petter Granberg and Tim Erixon on Tuesday. The 23-year-old University of Michigan product signed a two-year entry-level deal, while the defensemen signed one-year deals.
The 22-year-old Granberg agreed to a two-way contract for $600,000(NHL)/$100,000(AHL) but suffered a torn Achilles in off-season workouts and be out at least four months.
Erixon, 24, was claimed by the Leafs off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks in early March and signed a one-way deal for $600,000, giving the club a defender with NHL experience to play in their top six while younger prospects gain experience in the American Hockey League.
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Watch the Pre-Draft Edition of Leaf Buzz with myself and CTV's Norman James, as we discuss the Maple Leafs potential trades and which direction they will choose to go with two picks in the first round in Sunrise, FL on Friday.
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