Andersen and 15th pick part of Leafs’ future
GM still listening, but doesn’t expect to trade goalie or first-rounder
Goaltender Frederik Andersen will be back with the Maple Leafs next season.
And while they’re listening to offers for the 15th pick in Tuesday’s first round of the NHL draft, they have no plans to trade it.
General manager Kyle Dubas, who was talking all things draft and free agency on Monday, made it clear that he has no intention of dealing the Leafs’ No. 1 netminder, whose future has been the subject of intense speculation with one year left on his contract.
Andersen’s playoff record — he hasn’t won a round in four years in Toronto — is brought up often by a faction of Leaf Nation that would like to see him moved. He also carries a $5-million (U.S.) cap hit, although just $1 million in actual salary next season. That makes him valuable to a lot of teams that want to save money while reaching the salary-cap minimum in tough financial times.
“I know where the speculation came from, and rather than be hostile about it, I just addressed it directly with Fred,” Dubas said. “He and I have had many discussions. He knows where we stand. And as of this moment, I expect him to be the starting goalie for our team.”
The Leafs are an easy target for such speculation after four straight playoff flops. Dubas watched — like everyone else — as the Tampa Bay Lightning went from post-season disappointment to Stanley Cup champion the following year by becoming a tougher team to play against. They did that by adding players of that ilk, but also because their stars adding a gritty element to their game.
“It goes without saying, we’d like to be incredibly hard to play against,” the GM said. “There’s no doubt that’s something we’d like to address, through free agency or trades. That is a priority of ours.”
This week is an important one from a team-building perspective, from the two-day online draft, starting Tuesday night, to free agency, which opens at noon Friday. The Leafs have already re-signed forwards Jason Spezza and Denis Malgin to one-year, $700,000 deals.
The Leafs’ No. 15 draft pick, acquired from Pittsburgh in the Kasperi Kapanen deal, isn’t likely to be moved, Dubas said: “We’ve had lots of discussions on it, but nothing I would say is overly close. Lots of tire-kicking, but nothing that would compel us to move it.”
This year’s draft is considered deep, the first round in particular. The Leafs will have 11 picks over seven rounds.
“We are happy with the depth of the draft, which is one of the reasons we made the (trade) with Pittsburgh,” said Dubas. “It’s a great opportunity for us.”
The pandemic has made this a draft like no other. Video of the prospects has been viewed and reviewed by all levels of scouts. It was basically all they could do from the middle of March onward as leagues shut down in response to the spread of the coronavirus.
“The amount of deep work we’ve done on every prospect far surpasses what we’ve been able to do the previous years,” said Dubas. “We’ll take some of the elements we learned this season ahead with us, when things return to normal in the coming months and years.”
Quebec junior superstar winger Alexis Lafrenière is widely expected to go first overall to the New York Rangers, who won the draft lottery. Whether Sudbury centre Quinton Byfield or German forward Tim Stuetzle goes second to the Los Angeles Kings is the only guessing game left at the top.
The Leafs’ pressing need for next season is a defenceman who shoots right-handed. But Dubas said he’ll be looking for the best player available regardless of position.
“The last two first-round picks we’ve had have been used on defence,” said Dubas. “That’s not to say we wouldn’t use another on a defenceman. Our philosophy has always been, because the player is not going to make an immediate impact on your roster, the way we’ve always approached it is to select the best player, not reach for a position.”
There are other moving parts in the NHL this week:
Teams have until Thursday to buy out players, who would join the unrestricted free-agent pool.
The deadline to tender qualifying offers to pending restricting free agents is 5 p.m. Wednesday, or they will become unrestricted on Friday. Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev are prominent Leafs in that category, but they’ll have to wait to learn their status. “With so much going on, we’re going to wait until we do anything and see if teams are (releasing) players that we think might be an improvement for us before we act,” said Dubas. “The time we have, we’re going to use it and make sure we aren’t doing anything pre-emptively that might restrict us.”