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The Toronto Maple Leafs made an offer to try and acquire goalie Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames, Sportsnet’s NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported.
The Flames traded Markstrom, who has two years left on the six-year $36 million deal he signed on October 9, 2020, to the New Jersey Devils on June 19. However, Friedman says other teams did make an offer, including the Maple Leafs who offer was comparable to what New Jersey made.
“I heard their offer to Calgary was comparable to New Jersey’s,” Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts Podcast. “But I think because of the politics there, I think Toronto was going to have to blow anyone else out of the water to get that player.
“I also think Markstrom at the end of the day preferred New Jersey most but he opened it up to teams like Toronto and Ottawa in the Eastern Conference but I think the Maple Leafs were going to have to win that deal,” Friedman added.
Calgary ended up trading Markstrom to New Jersey for a 2025 first-round pick and defenseman Kevin Bahl.
What Toronto offered the Flames was comparable, according to Friedman, but Calgary opted to take the deal with the Devils.
As Friedman also mentions, the politics with the Maple Leafs likely played a role in the deal. Of course, Toronto’s general manager is Brad Treliving who left Calgary to take the job with the Maple Leafs last year.
Insider Mentions 2 Goalies for Maple Leafs
After Toronto did not land Markstrom in a trade from Calgary, Friedman mentions two free-agent goalies for the Maple Leafs.
Toronto is expected to add a goalie this offseason to format tandem with Joseph Woll. Friedman mentions pending free-agent goalies, Laurent Brossoit and Anthony Stolarz as possible fits for the Maple Leafs.
“We know Toronto is in the goalie market but I think that’s more of a Laurent Brossoit, Anthony Stolarz type piece,” Friedman said.
Brossoit completed the one-year $1.75 million deal he signed with the Winnipeg Jets. Brossoit went 15-5-2 with a 2.00 goals against average and a .927 save percentage with Winnipeg last season.
Stolarz, meanwhile, went 16-7-2 with a 2.03 GAA and a .925 SV% with the Florida Panthers this season. He’s set to be a pending free agent come July 1 after completing his one-year $1.1 million deal.
Maple Leafs Focused on Getting a Goalie
Toronto only has Woll under contract for next season, as both Ilya Samsonov and Martin Jones are pending free agents.
It’s expected that Toronto will let Samsonov hit the open market, and after the season ended, Treliving said the goal for the Maple Leafs was to make sure they had the best goalie in each playoff series.
“I believe in Joe as a goaltender. We have to support Joe. Ilya’s contract is up, but we certainly have to try to put ourselves in a position where we don’t have the second-best goaltender in each of these series,” Treliving said at the year-end press conference on May 10.
Woll went 12-11-1 with a 2.94 GAA and a .907 SV% in the regular season and went 2-0 with a 0.86 GAA and a .964 SV% in the playoffs. Woll is entering the final year of the three-year $2.3 million deal he signed in 2022.
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