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GM candidate the Maple Leafs didn't hire has wild trade suggestion with Canucks for Gavin McKenna originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
A hockey radio host in Toronto, Mike Futa, was also a candidate for the Maple Leafs' open GM job.
Futa has a lot of front office experience, although never as a head GM, and so he was a logical enough candidate. Except if the Leafs had hired him, he might've made a crazy trade with the Vancouver Canucks involving Gavin McKenna.
Toronto won the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft lottery despite entering with the fifth-best lottery odds.
The Canucks had the best odds but fell to the third pick.
Those circumstances are going to make for easy chatter for radio hosts that need to drum up some hockey ideas, and that's what Futa did.
He suggested the Leafs and Canucks could line up on a deal that sends young defenseman Zeev Buium and the No. 3 overall pick to Toronto for the first pick and the right to draft McKenna.
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While that feels like a fair and immediate no at first glance for Toronto, Futa's point is actually pretty fair.
The Maple Leafs have a relatively solid forward group. It's in defense where they leave so much to be desired. McKenna admittedly doesn't help that unit.
Still, Toronto doesn't seem likely to pass up the Canadian phenom. But since it feels like a simple pick, the only way to drum up intrigue is to speculate about trades. The Maple Leafs' phones are surely ringing, but that doesn't mean they're picking up.
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- How Zach Benson is Buffalo's perfect 'rat'
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