123offtheglass
Registered User
Pierre LeBrun on Leafs Lunch says, “The Leafs are calling around & essentially telling some teams that they’re looking for sort of a top 7ish forward with a two-way game & hard on the puck. Skill of course, but hard on the puck, not soft skill.” If you listen on the link he talks about how it's interesting the term hard on the puck is used, meaning that they're not necessarily looking for a checker.
Based on this, what Kyle Dubas says he is looking for, who fits that criteria/mold best that could realistically be available, even if they'd have to overpay to acquire them. Tampa paid high for Coleman & Goodrow but it was worth it. It sounds a lot like they're describing Zach Hyman, but a lesser version. It's pretty likely the player would play on the wing with JT and Willie.
What player does that sounds like?
Based solely on how closely they fit that criteria:
1. Kyle Palmieri
2. Nick Foligno
3. Tanner Pearson
4. Connor Brown
5. Vladislav Namestnikov
6. Miles Wood
7. Mikael Granlund
8. Rickard Rakell
9. Bobby Ryan
10. Eric Staal
11. Taylor Hall
12 Ryan Dzingel
*Jake Debrusk (I know Boston-Toronto trade would be very odd, even across divisions, but he's #10 on the TSN trade bait board. But what Boston would even want the Leafs couldn't give up, so he doesn't make the list)