Connect with us

Edmonton Oilers

Maple Leafs Place Spezza and Dell on Waivers, Spezza Threatens to Retire

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed both goaltender Aaron Dell and center Jason Spezza on waivers today.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed both goaltender Aaron Dell and center Jason Spezza on waivers today. It is likely the team will lose both players, but almost a lock the team will lose the goaltender.

Related: Jimmy Howard Set to Retire, Says Thanks But No Thanks to Oilers

When Nick Robertson got injured, speculation was that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to have to do a little bit of salary cap dancing. Robertson suffered a left knee injury against the Ottawa Senators and is due to undergo an MRI on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs are left with only 17 healthy skaters on the active roster, forcing the team to make moves in order to bring up another body from the taxi squad.

As Chris Johnston notes, four goalies have been claimed off waivers in the last week, so Dell is unlikely to clear. The Edmonton Oilers badly need a goaltender but the order of claim doesn’t guarantee he even falls to Edmonton. The Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and 14 other teams all get a shot to claim him first.

If he does get to the Oilers, it’s a no-brainer decision for the team to claim him considering Edmonton has been scrambling to find an option since the news that Mike Smith was put on LTIR and the Oilers lost Anton Forsberg to waivers themselves.

What About Spezza?

For any team looking to take Jason Spezza, there’s a potential risk as Johnston notes he might not even report to another NHL team putting in a claim. He’s been pretty adamant about wanting to finish his career in Toronto. His agent has already said that if he’s claimed, Spezza will, in fact, retire.

Spezza chose to return to his hometown team on a league-minimum $700,000 contract and has no intention of continuing his career anywhere else. “He’ll simply retire,” agent Rick Curran told Sportsnet.

Next: Maple Leafs’ Head Coach Sheldon Keefe’s Four Goals for Nick Robertson

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

More News

Discover more from NHL Trade Talk

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading