"I think that's fair. I wouldn't go lower than a B, because you do have to analyze the market and I don't think that fans fully appreciate what that means. It was curious to me in looking at what the Winnipeg Jets did in acquiring Tyler Toffoli on Friday and some of the feedback on social media [was] 'why didn't our team match that? We could have done this, we could have done that'. It's not that simple and that's not really how it works.
When you look at the players who were acquired, as an example, and there were a lot of them acquired for 2nd round picks as a part of the package. Well, as we've established time and time again here, guys, Brad Treliving didn't have a 2nd round draft pick, so automatically, that takes him out of a certain number of conversations. Was there a want to get better? Sure, but as soon as Chris Tanev went to Dallas, then Treliving switched over to Ilya Lyubushkin and the Anaheim Ducks and I would argue that the Maple Leafs are better with Ilya Lyubushkin on that side.
Joel Edmundson, I don't know, I think he's serviceable. I think he's a high-character guy, he's a quality defenseman. Again, he's going to make them better, so I didn't have any issue with the two defense, and I think that, again, a lot of people have looked at Connor Dewar and really not know the type of player that Connor Dewar is and can be, because they probably didn't watch a ton of Minnesota Wild games. He's an effective forward. He is. He's solid defensively, can help you on the penalty kill, and he's got a little bit of bite in his game and so I think the Maple Leafs did as well as they could and they didn't give up that 1st round draft pick - and it wasn't that they were vehemently opposed to trading the 1st. There wasn't a player available that would have made Toronto that much better that was worth throwing that 1st round draft pick or a better prospect into the equation.
It's not like Treliving didn't have those conversations, but at the end of the day, the fit just wasn't there."
