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Toronto Maple Leafs podcast: Kovalchuk, buyouts, and the Expansion Draft

By Chris Okrainetz

May 31, 2017; Las Vegas, NV, USA: General overall view of the T-Mobile Arena exterior on Las Vegas Blvd. on the Las Vegas strip. The facility will be the home of the NHL expansion franchise Vegas Golden Knights which will begin play during the 2017-18 season. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
May 31, 2017; Las Vegas, NV, USA: General overall view of the T-Mobile Arena exterior on Las Vegas Blvd. on the Las Vegas strip. The facility will be the home of the NHL expansion franchise Vegas Golden Knights which will begin play during the 2017-18 season. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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In this Toronto Maple Leafs episode of the ToT-cast, we discuss the recent Kovalchuk rumours, the upcoming expansion draft and more.

In this episode of the ToT-cast, Chris Okrainetz, David Morassutti, Jake Middleton, Omar White and Austin Owens discuss the recent Ilya Kovalchuk rumours and the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ potential expansion draft plans.

Some of the things we discuss includes: the chances of Kovalchuk joining the Leafs, what the cost would be to acquire to him, what kind of contract he could be looking for, whether he is actually a “cancer” on a roster, the upcoming buyout window and whether the Leafs will buy a player out, if there are any “big buyout” candidates across the league, the Leafs’ potential expansion draft plans, who the Leafs will likely protect and expose, who Las Vegas might select, our mock draft Vegas Golden Knights’ teams and more.

Here’s a rundown of what we discussed on this episode:

More from Tip of the Tower

– We discuss the “Kovalchuk returning to the NHL rumours,” whether he would be a good fit for the Leafs and what the cost to acquire him might be. (1:08)
– Is Kovalchuk a “cancer” to a team? (7:49)
– We give our percentages and predict whether Kovalchuk will return to the NHL, and what are the odds of the Leafs acquiring him. (11:07)
– The upcoming buyout window and why the Leafs more than likely won’t buy anyone out. We also touch on other buyout candidates across the league. (21:48)
– We sort through some of the expansion draft rules and important dates to know. (26:54)
– A breakdown of the expansion draft from the Leafs’ perspective where we discuss who the team might protect and expose. We also debate about Kerby Rychel, Brendan Leipsic, Josh Leivo and Matt Martin. (27:57)
– We used Cap Friendly’s awesome expansion draft tool to create our own Las Vegas Golden Knights expansion team and we share our results, as well as team’s who were actually interesting to select from. (42:07)
– Thoughts on Auston Matthews‘ new tattoo. (69:10)

Note: Jake is a bit fuzzy at the beginning of the podcast due to connection issues, but it clears up after a few minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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