Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas didn’t want to trade wingers Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen.
“In a perfect world, you would love to be able to keep everybody, but the world is far from perfect these days and you have to adapt,” Dubas said. “With the salary cap being what it is, we would have loved to have kept both players, but we had to make calls to give ourselves flexibility to add TJ Brodie and the different elements we wanted through the lineup.”
Johnsson, dealt to New Jersey, and Kapanen, dealt to Pittsburgh, combined for 61 goals in the past two seasons.
“They’re good players, so when they go out the door, you’re always concerned,” Dubas said. “But our feeling is that with adding Joe (Thornton) and Jimmy Vesey and Wayne (Simmonds) and Joey Anderson (acquired from New Jersey for Johnsson) … we feel we have a lot of options to fill in those goals.
“It’s always tough to move guys out, but it’s part of what we have to do to make it all work and it gives others a huge opportunity they will have to take advantage of.”
Dubas said there was “a lot of interest” in Johnsson. Dubas made the trade with the Devils because he sees potential in Anderson, a restricted free agent.
“We elected to go with Joey because of his combination of talent, what he has shown (at various hockey levels), his character and his competitiveness,” Dubas said.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
