Official: Trade between the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens rejected by Kent Hughes, who received a ridiculous offer

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David St-Jean
January 3, 2024 (10:52)

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As you may know, the Maple Leafs are desperate and in need of a goaltender who can get the job done. Justin Woll is injured, and Ilya Samsonov has been performing so poorly that he cleared waivers and is now in the AHL.

Martin Jones held the fort for their first game in 2024 with a shutout against the Kings, but the organization is understandably not confident in him for the long term.

For these reasons, their general manager, Brad Treliving, made a concrete offer to several teams to acquire a goaltender. However, all of them rejected the offer due to its poor quality.

"Elliotte Friedman speculates that Toronto Maple Leafs' GM Brad Treliving offered several teams a sixth-round draft pick for a goalie, to which every team declined. He reportedly hoped a team would be desperate to move one.

Luke Fox of Sportsnet speculates that Dan Vladar (Flames), Jake Allen (Canadiens), Eric Comrie (Sabres), & Anton Forsberg (Senators) were amongst the goalies Treliving targeted."

The defense is a real issue for the Leafs, starting with their goaltenders who are not getting the job done. Such a minimal offer is ridiculous and demonstrates that they are not ready to win.

There is also a rumor that William Nylander is on the verge of signing an eight-year contract extension worth around 11 million per year. If this really happens and they have four forwards making over 10 million, it will start to become awkward how they haven't understood how to build a winning team.

Regarding the offer received by Kent Hughes, it is understandable that he rejected it. While Jake Allen may not be worth a king's ransom, he certainly deserves more than a sixth-round pick.