Friedman explains complex situation involving Brayden Schenn and the Maple Leafs
Photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing - Imagn Images
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman explains the intricate trade details involving the Maple Leafs and their pursuit of Brayden Schenn, including wild demands from Blues.
A few days ago, it had been reported by Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos that the St. Louis Blues were asking for prospects Easton Cowan, Ben Danford and an additional piece in exchange for Brayden Schenn at last year's trade deadline.
This week, Elliotte Friedman touched on this report and went into more detail on what went down between the Leafs and the Blues in trade negotiations and how he had heard 3 different iterations, including the aforementioned package of prospects being offered.
"I absolutely think that was the package that was on the table that was going to have to get it done for Schenn. Nick is totally right that that was what it was going to take to get him."
Additionally, Friedman alluded to another bump in the road that made this negotiation so difficult in that Brayden was only going to waive his NTC for the Leafs if they were able to also land his brother, Luke Schenn, who was available out of Pittsburgh.
"Schenn wasn't going to waive to Toronto unless the Maple Leafs got Luke. When all that was going on about reuniting the Schenn brothers, that's what Toronto was trying to do, and if the Leafs had gotten Luke, I think Brayden would've waived to go there."
The Leafs were in on Luke, the elder Schenn brother, for quite some time before he was ultimately moved to Winnipeg. However, because the Leafs were unable to beat out the Jets' offer, they lost a massive leverage point in their run for brother, Brayden.
Friedman then concluded that the Leafs took a scope of the entire situation and felt uneasy about trading their top prospects in Cowan and Danford. That allowed them to walk away from the Schenn brothers and focus on other trade avenues, like the ones that brought them Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton from Boston and Philadelphia, respectively.
"The other thing I heard was that the Leafs looked at the situation and said instead of doing that deal we can do more by making 2 deals, and they ended up making the deals they made; the one for Carlo and the one for Laughton."
It's a very interesting wrinkle to the story from last year's deadline, considering how well Cowan has done in his rookie season. Additionally, adding their other top prospect in Danford to the mix, that would have been an incredibly risky proposition from Brad Treliving, that could have had massive consequences for this season and beyond.
Perhaps things have changed for Schenn and the Blues one season later, but it seems like if they want to acquire him this year, they're still going to have pony up a large trade offer. If that's the case, Treliving would be wise to walk away again and look elsewhere in an attempt to improve his team.
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Former Leafs forward's NHL career at risk following waivers announcement
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JANVIER 9 | 505 ANSWERS Friedman explains complex situation involving Brayden Schenn and the Maple Leafs Should the Maple Leafs take another kick at the can this year and try to acquire Brayden Schenn? | ||
| Yes | 128 | 25.3 % |
| No | 377 | 74.7 % |
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