The Toronto Maple Leafs caused a surprise at the end of the National Hockey League draft on Saturday afternoon by acquiring the rights to defenseman Chris Tanev from the Dallas Stars in exchange for the services of forward Max Ellis and a 7th round pick in 2026.
The acquisition of Tanev shows the Maple Leafs are in the market for a right-handed defenseman, and our sister station’s informant TSN Darren Dreger believes the two parties will come to an agreement.
And even if the Maple Leafs sign Tanev, their shopping spree wouldn’t be over. Dreger reports that the Queen City team is heavily interested in Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Florida Panthers and Nikita Zadorov of the Vancouver Canucks.
Armstrong has no intention of stopping there
The Utah Hockey Club made its presence felt Saturday by acquiring defensemen Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning and John Marino from the New Jersey Devils.
General Manager Bill Armstrong, however, has no intention of stopping there, according to our sister station’s insider. TSN Chris Johnston.
Armstrong would actually like to hire Panthers guard Brandon Montour, Johnston said. Montour scored 8 goals and 25 assists in 66 games last season before adding 3 goals and 8 assists in 24 playoff games to help the Panthers win the first Stanley Cup in their history.
What beast Reinhart?
Speaking of the Panthers, they are eager to retain the services of forward Sam Reinhart.
The 6-foot-2 center had 57 goals and 37 assists in 82 games last season. He added 10 goals in the playoffs, including the game-winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Our contributor Pierre LeBrun reports that Reinhart has not yet responded to the offer presented by the Panthers. The Stanley Cup champions could see 11 of their players benefit from full autonomy on July 1.
