Maple Leafs working on trading the rights to one of their upcoming free agents
The Toronto Maple Leafs have informed teams they're open to trading the rights to pending unrestricted free agent Ilya Mikheyev.
Reports surfaced late last summer that Mikheyev asked for a trade, but Toronto decided to keep him because they saw more in him. And while they did get more out of the 27-year-old, there was still the looming possibility he would leave.
Mikheyev had a career year this past season with 21 goals and 32 points in 53 games played. He was a scoring threat with bursts of breakaway speed on the Maple Leafs' penalty killing group. He lead the team with four short handed goals this past season.
He's reported to be looking in the $4-$5 million range on the open market.
That sort of price isn't going to fit into the very tight jigsaw puzzle that is the Toronto Maple Leaf's salary cap. With several important renewals yet to be signed, the team has just $6 million in cap space.
These type of deals never bring much of a haul in but it's better to get something then to loose the player for nothing. It will be interesting to see where the spark-plug winger ends up.
| POLL | ||
Where do you see Ilya Mikheyev playing next season? | ||
| Washington Capitals | 76 | 37.4 % |
| New York Islanders | 33 | 16.3 % |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 41 | 20.2 % |
| Other | 53 | 26.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
