Two Leafs are on a ‘sign-or-trade’ clock, and the deadline is closing fast
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs pending free agents have one analyst saying Toronto needs to act before July 1st.
Analyst Mike Johnson said Toronto can’t afford to let Bobby McMann or Scott Laughton get to free agency without "either extending or moving them".
Both forwards are linked as potential trade targets, McMann specifically as reports have indicated that the 29-year-old could potentially net a first round draft pick in a thinning trade market.
The recent trade of Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday lessened what was already a trade deadline with slim pickings for a top-six forward.
With the Leafs not wavering from wanting to be sellers, Johnson's new warning to the Leafs is that they need to decide soon if Laughton and McMann are in their future or not, and if so, they need to be locked up soon.
What Mike Johnson said about Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton's futures
Former Leaf and current analyst Mike Johnson spoke on Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton, saying that Toronto needs to make their decision on the two soon, and be willing to move them if they won't be re-signed.
I mean, if one of those two guys walk in the summer, then I don't even know. You know, giving where the leafs are and giving what the players are like, you can't. It's not Mitch Marner, we have a chance to win the cup. We have to risk it. This is not that year. These are not those kind of players for that either.
If you decide you want to keep them, and that is a valid reason to decide you want to keep both those guys and get them to a contract that works for everybody, then you do that before the deadline. If you can't get that contract, than you almost have to trade them. - Mike Johnson
If you decide you want to keep them, and that is a valid reason to decide you want to keep both those guys and get them to a contract that works for everybody, then you do that before the deadline. If you can't get that contract, than you almost have to trade them. - Mike Johnson
McMann has 19 goals and 32 points in 56 this games this season for Toronto. McMann has one year remaining on his contract at $1.35M, making him one of the more valuable bargain options in the league.
Laughton, 31, makes $3M annually. Acquired from Toronto at last year's deadline from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Nikita Grebenkin, Laughton has eight goals and 11 points in 39 games this season for Toronto, a potential bottom-six option at both center and wing.
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| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 5|1181 ANSWERS Two Leafs are on a ‘sign-or-trade’ clock, and the deadline is closing fast What should be the plan for Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann? | ||
| Trade both | 315 | 26.7 % |
| Sign both | 429 | 36.3 % |
| Trade Laughton, re-sign McMann | 167 | 14.1 % |
| Trade McMann, re-sign Laughton | 270 | 22.9 % |
| List of polls | ||