Dec 5, 2023; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek (14) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
FINAL DEAL: The Maple Leafs have signed defensemen Alexandre Carrier and Sean Walker for $289.9 million.
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It’s been claimed that the caren’t simply considering Chris Tanev.
Toronto’s roster has lacked a defensive player this season. They’re not as deep on the back end as they’d want, despite some fantastic stories like Simon Benoit entering and taking a position.
Tanev and another Calgary Flames defenseman, Noah Hanifin, have reportedly been connected to Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving. But now it seems Treliving is considering alternative possibilities.\
Insider Chris Johnston revealed on TSN’s Insider Trading segment on Thursday that Toronto has also considered Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier.
“Chris Tanev likely still remains the number one target for the Leafs, but there’s a whole bunch of others that we can at least link the Leafs to in terms of inquiring about availability,” Johnston stated.
They include Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier, both pending UFAs like Tanev. And really, I think the biggest impediment so far to the Leafs making that deal is they don’t want to move their first-rounder still, they don’t have second-rounders in the next three drafts, and so they’ve tried to go with volume, offering multiple lower-round draft picks, and so far, the teams involved in those discussions have no interest in doing that.”
Both Carrier ($2.5 million) and Walker ($2.65 million) carry a lower cap hit than Tanev ($4.5 million), and are all unrestricted free agents after this season. All three players are also right-shot defensemen.
On the other hand, Walker and Carrier each play on their team’s bottom pairing, while Tanev is on the Flames’ top pairing.
Pierre LeBrun provided more information after Johnston’s article, stating that Marc-Andre Fleury may be traded to the Maple Leafs or another team if the Minnesota Wild are not guaranteed a postseason position by the trade deadline.
“Marc-Andre Fleury had a four-hour meeting with his agent Allan Walsh this week where they went over March 8th and what could happen,” LeBrun stated. “He thinks the Minnesota Wild, who are incidentally enjoying a bit of a run, have a shot to make the playoffs. Therefore, if they’re still in the wild, he doesn’t want to give up.
