Recent Three-Team Trade a Good Sign for Brad Treliving and the Toronto Maple Leafs
Amidst all the noise surrounding the Hurricanes and Avalanche, the third team involved in Friday's blockbuster gives Toronto an idea as they look to make a deal.
Friday evening saw some big fireworks as Mikko Rantanen was first traded to Chicago then sent to Carolina in a complex deal filled with assets, draft picks, and salary retention.
It's the latter that is intriguing for the Maple Leafs and Brad Treliving as it gives them hope they can make a big splash and not have to break the bank to do it.
Chicago's Role In Friday's Blockbuster Great News For Toronto
For all the pieces and assets exchanged, Chicago came away with the least and only received a third-round pick meanwhile, the team is retaining 50% of Rantanen's salary.
While Carolina does still need to worry about an extension for Rantanen, the fact Chicago dumped Taylor Hall, retained salary and only took a pick just to appease the other two teams means that Brad Treliving now has options.
If he can wrangle a team who has a lot of cap space into a three-club package, then the ability to pick up a player like Yanni Gourde, Brock Nelson or Chris Kreider that much easier.
Some teams who have excess cap space who Toronto could look to include Columbus, Calgary, Anaheim, New York (Rangers), San Jose, and Utah. Of all those teams, only New York and Calgary are really fighting for a playoff spot, it is a tight race all over.
So the potential to find a retainer is definitely available, not to mention Montreal still has one retention slot available so that's another team who could be in play although it's hard to see such heated rivals come together to make a deal.
The fact Toronto can rely on a willing team to first acquire a player then ship them off and retain salary is a massive boost for Brad Treliving's search for the right pieces.
If he can not only find his premium 2C or 3C and perhaps even shore up his defense, it's going to pay off huge for Toronto come playoff time.
