Huge Tanev trade between Flames-Leafs fell apart: report
The Calgary Flames were apparently discussing a huge trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs over the past few weeks.
With the Flames looking more and more like sellers this season, it appears that the Leafs were trying to get in on the ground floor on some of the team’s pending UFA defencemen.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest Saturday Headlines segment, there were trade discussions between the two teams involving both Nikita Zadorov and former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev over the past few weeks.
“There was an attempt by the Toronto Maple Leafs to get both Tanev and Zadorov from Calgary,” reported Friedman. “From what I understand, the issue here was that the Maple Leafs and the Flames could not agree on what it would cost for Calgary to keep up to 50% of the salary on both players.”
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The Flames would have to have retained a significant portion of both players for the Leafs to be able to make them fit under the cap. According to CapFriendly, Toronto has just $1.45 million remaining in cap space with a boggling $15.8 million in LTIR relief.
The combined cap hit for Zadorov and Tanev would have totalled $8.25 million.
“I don’t know what the exact percentage [of retention] Toronto asked, but it was up to half, and the two sides couldn’t figure out that compensation in addition to just the compensation for the players, so, as a result, Tanev and Zadorov to Toronto didn’t happen,” continued Friedman.
This was great news for the Canucks, as they were able to swoop in and trade for Zadorov last week in exchange for a package of mid-round draft picks.
Despite coming up short in the bidding to acquire both players, the Leafs are reportedly still engaged in trade talks to help their blue line.
“I think they will continue to pursue Chris Tanev,” said Friedman. “Although, because Tanev makes a larger salary than Zadorov, it might take longer for the Tanev move to happen, whether to Toronto or someone else.
“I think the Maple Leafs prefer a right-handed shot defenceman, and they are looking for someone with a bit of an edge; we’ll see where that goes.”
The Leafs are dealing with a plethora of defensive injuries at the moment. All of Jake Muzzin, John Klingberg, and Timothy Liljegren are on LTIR. Veteran Mark Giordano is also on the IR. This has forced the team to call up players like Simon Benoit and Maxime Lajoie to fill the holes.
There is still plenty of time for a deal to be worked out between the two teams, as the NHL trade deadline isn’t until March.
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