from James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail,

With the NHL draft a week from Friday in South Florida, trade talk has begun to heat up, and there are at least four Leafs in those conversations. Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf are the headliners, but Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and Co. will also be trying to move Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak, who both have three troubling years remaining on their deals.

All four have limited no-trade clauses, which obviously complicates matters, especially given Kessel’s has only eight teams he will allow a deal to. All four also have sizable salaries in a year in which the salary cap is expected to go up less than 3 per cent.

The Leafs cap situation is another wrinkle. They have about $50-million committed, in a year when the NHL’s salary floor will be set at just under $54-million.

New contracts for Bernier and Kadri will bring Toronto closer to $60-million, but if they start moving high-priced players, they’re going to have a ridiculous amount of money to spend on … who knows? Combined, Kessel, Phaneuf, Lupul and Bozak make $24.5-million – or half of what the Leafs currently have on the books.

So Shanahan has plenty of flexibility here. He won’t be forced into bad deals to get rid of these contracts right away, even if that’s the long-term plan.

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