Wednesday's FTB: Three more days of trade talk

There were two trades late yesterday:

McCarron used to be with Montréal in case you were trying to place him. He's low-paid, pretty good as a depth player, and he was drafted 25th overall. So consider all the first-rounders the Leafs won't get for all the players they aren't trading to be lost opportunities for this guy as good outcome.

He's cheap in all ways to acquire because his impact is almost all defence.

Nashville also took back an AHL defender.

Cole Smith played three seconds of the Predators game against the Blue Jackets before being removed. The trade news was apparently broken by Columbus announcer Jody Shelley who overheard Smith tell a teammate he had been traded.

Smith is another defensive-minded forward who is low-cost and better than his salary implies. A smart depth addition by Vegas.

Meanwhile, what else is going on out there? There's claims of a lot of players on the market, there's some decently credible statements that Buffalo wants Robert Thomas, and the Oilers want a forward, but otherwise, it's pretty quiet.

Maybe the Olympic break allowed teams to talk themselves right out of doing anything?

Or they can't make the money work. I think the GMs have a very good point in this article. The NHL dumping these changes on them after they'd set their rosters is not a thing anyone should have been okay with.

The no-double-retention and the cap on LTIR for players who might play in the playoffs is likely part of what's making this deadline very dull so far. The playoff cap itself, not so much.

Maybe we're going to see a rush on low-paid guys like McCarron and Smith who look like they are good additions and might only be marginally better than the guy who sits so they play.

As for the Leafs, if this is a buyer's market, as has been claimed, and there are a lot of players out there available, that makes the chances of the Leafs getting big returns pretty small.

Jake DeBrusk appears to use the word "humbling" in the comments below in its correct and original meaning. He's in a tough spot. He doesn't want in on a rebuild and the Canucks don't want to retain salary.

Speaking of, I saw a reference to the Leafs full set of three open retention slots which would allow them to retain salary on any pending UFA they may trade with no meaningful cap implications. That could be a way to up the return.

Vincent Trochek is upfront about how he plans to exercise control over his own future:

The Leafs are in New Jersey for their two-day road trip. They'll be back in Toronto Friday for all the excitement. I hope these two games are not repeat of the last two. Although the team looked a little more like a team in the second half against the Flyers.

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