GM Reveals Truth Behind Why the Maple Leafs Were Unable to Acquire Their Top Trade Deadline Target
Photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong revealed why the deadline deal with the Maple Leafs for Brayden Schenn ultimately failed due to what the Leafs offered.
Ultimately, the Leafs and GM Brad Treliving had to settle for Scott Laughton to address their depth at forward at the trade deadline, which has not gone well thus far, given the struggles of Scott Laughton.
Their top target was Blues captain Brayden Schenn, due in large to his leadership, style of play and ability to provide some offensive production in the bottom-six. Unfortunately, the Leafs and Blues were unable to agree to terms on a trade for a specific reason which Armstrong revealed on the 'Spittin' Chiclets' podcast.
"Coming out of the Four Nations, our job as a management group is to have a plan and then you adjust to the information you're given. We said to teams that we're not playing to a calibre of hockey that's sustainable or successful.
We have players that are going to be available, with the caveat of if we start winning games, things are going to change so if you want to buy, buy now. We ended up going on a little bit of a heater and we got to that last game and we said we were only going to make a hockey trade.
We were not going to make a futures trade because the players had given us the information that's what was needed... The players had earned the right to play this out, so if we could have done a hockey trade, we would have done it."
We have players that are going to be available, with the caveat of if we start winning games, things are going to change so if you want to buy, buy now. We ended up going on a little bit of a heater and we got to that last game and we said we were only going to make a hockey trade.
We were not going to make a futures trade because the players had given us the information that's what was needed... The players had earned the right to play this out, so if we could have done a hockey trade, we would have done it."
Leading up to the deadline, the Leafs were not looking to move a player off of their roster and it cost them the ability to acquire a true centreman for their third line, as the Blues were not interested in the futures the Leafs shipped out at the deadline in separate deals (two first-round picks, Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin).
Armstrong also touched on the reports that Schenn turned down deals ahead of the deadline citing that 'no trade does not mean no talk'.
To his credit, Schenn did not want to waive his NTC, as he felt the Blues had a good thing going after bringing in Jim Montgomery, and his intuition proved to be right as the Blues have reeled off 12 straight wins and now sit comfortably in the first wild card spot in the West.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 7 | 2783 ANSWERS GM Reveals Truth Behind Why the Maple Leafs Were Unable to Acquire Their Top Trade Deadline Target Was not acquiring Brayden Schenn a mistake by the Leafs? | ||
| Definitely | 788 | 28.3 % |
| Nah, the contract is too much | 1061 | 38.1 % |
| It looks that way with Laughton on the wing | 342 | 12.3 % |
| Laughton was still a good add, and he'll show that | 592 | 21.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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