Sportsnet 590 THE FAN: Sam McKee and Nick Kypreos talk about the possibilities of the Toronto Maple Leafs captain trading Auston Matthews, and who could be the top landing spot.
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McKee: “A lot of people saw what happened with Quinn Hughes, Kyp, and the way it looked at the end with Quinn Hughes in Vancouver. The body language and the American captain in the Canadian market, and all those things.
I mean, I would say the biggest comment I get is a lot of Matthews trades. Trade Matthews. Trade Matthews. And I’d be lying to you if I did, if I told you that’s not a scary thought, from the point of view of Leaf fans, in my opinion, at least a ton of them would like to do that.
But do you think that’s a conversation they’ll ever have, like this summer?”
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Kypreos: “Yes.”
McKee: “What do you say?”
Kypreos: “100%. Yes, I do. And again, the non-movement clause applies. So you should, do this together. This is not just your decision to do it.
You have to go up to Austin and say to Austin, it’s been a tough year and a half now, two years, considering what happened last year and, the injury, or the trip to Germany, whatever. Well, it’s been a tough two years. As he may be in a state where he is, he may go to the Leaves and say,
it’s time for a change.
And I believe that this is not something that can happen this season.”
McKee: “It’s not the last time.”
Kypreos: “This is a summer decision. And I don’t even buy that this is Auston his whole career. He’s a 30-goal player, and he’s just going to go down. I can’t believe other teams are watching him leave, this is the Auston Matthews I’m going to trade. I don’t want them. I don’t want him either.”
McKee: “Okay.”
Kypreos: “And I think there are, there are places out there, and I don’t know if you want to hold me to this, but…”
McKee: “I’d like to catch something.”
Kypreos: “Like Auston Matthews to the LA Kings game.”
McKee: “Okay, that goes.”
Kypreos: “That step. Okay, they got Kopitar going, and they need someone, and they’re just holding, you know, the clock on McDavid. And I think, if McDavid is selected by the LA King in a few years, or, you know, early next year, trade him, maybe, then Auston will fall under that.”
McKee: “Wow. So, and that’s, I mean, the next question I’m going to ask, and a lot of Leafs fans would ask, would be, does he have the same trade value that Quinn Hughes would have?”
Kypreos: “I think if, if you can’t get four pieces of Auston, you should get three of the best for sure.”
McKee: “Okay.”
Kypreos: “Yeah, and I don’t know what that means in terms of, you need a middle iceman. I don’t know if they let go of (Quinton) Byfield, but it could be one of them, their top pick up the middle.”
McKee: “It could be, it could be…”
Kypreos: “I would like to return the defender.”
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McKee: “Certainly, you’d think it would be, like the players playing now, unlike…”
Kypreos: “I think I would like two players who can play now and the first pick.”
McKee: “Okay, that’s exciting.”
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