Maple Leafs, Canucks unlikely to agree on deal for Roberto Luongo
“I’m not going to give up youth for older players,” Nonis told ESPN. “We would trade a young player for a young player. But we’re not going to trade a bunch of young players or first-round picks for short-term gain. You can’t build a club that way.”
Bozak is 26 and after 2½ years in the National Hockey League is still trending upwards. He had 47 points last season and led Toronto centres with an average ice time of 18:50. Bozak’s value to Nonis can be measured on the transaction wire this week: the GM traded Maple Leaf centre Lombardi and waived the overpaid, overrated Connolly.
Between them, Connolly and Lombardi combined for more than 30 minutes of average ice time last season. So if Nonis is packaging Bozak for the Canucks, he’d better get Vancouver centre Henrik Sedin as well as Luongo.
The possible move of the goalie to Toronto appears to be dead – at least in the framework of the Bozak-Kadri trade that was reported last fall as a “done deal.”
And since the 48-game regular season starts Saturday, and teams have been filling their rosters and salary-cap space this week, it is likely that Luongo will start the season as the most expensive backup goalie in Canuck history.