After another disastrous season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to make some changes this offseason and that may include parting ways with some key players -- including Phil Kessel.
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According to NHL.com, Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas said that trade talks ratcheted up during the NHL scouting combine last week and the report indicates that Kessel may have been a big part of the conversations.
"Last week at the combine, we started to have a lot more conversation with other teams, and chatter starts to pick up; that's just the way it goes," Dubas said per NHL.com. "... I didn't know that until we got there last week, and you start to feel your way around and start to see that other teams are starting to talk now that the [NHL Draft] is coming up, the salary cap is starting to be set."
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Dubas wouldn't address a possible Kessel deal specifically, but there is a lot of speculation that the team is looking for prospects and draft picks in return in a potential deal and with the talks occurring at the scouting combine, which ended Saturday in Buffalo, the rumors persist.
"In any trade we are talking about -- and I won't get into specific players and rumors -- any trade that were going to be making, we're going to be looking to add as much as we can back to the organization," Dubas said. "That's not to say we won't be looking for good present-day players. We can't just lose year after year. That's not the plan to lose, that just brings up our players in a losing environment and that's not good."
The Maple Leafs went 30-44-8 this season and finished seventh in the Atlantic Division while missing the playoffs for the second consecutive campaign. The club was 30 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto brought it longtime Red Wings coach Mike Babcock as its new head coach already this offseason and continues to search for a new general manager. Team president Brendan Shanahan is spearheading the quest for a new GM.
Kessel has seven years left on an eight-year $64 million contract that pays him $8 million annually, but the Maple Leafs could be looking to deal him as a way to revamp the organization after back-to-back disappointing seasons.
Kessel, 27, had 25 goals and 36 assists for 61 points this season, but he was a minus-34 while playing all 82 games.
In his career, Kessel is 181-213--394 in six years with Toronto and 247-273--520 in 668 games in his NHL career over nine years with the Boston Bruins and Maple Leafs.
Toronto is looking for some improvements and a new direction, and it's possible it could be a busy summer filled with personnel movement for the Maple Leafs organization.
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