Chris Johnston

You know, sometimes maybe you're doing a podcast, you almost feel like you're talking to your friends and you forget that it's going to be blared loudly.

You know, I don't know what was going on there.

Kerry doesn't give a lot of interviews, so his words carry even more weight because he doesn't say a lot in that public forum either.

Well, 100% the Leafs had discussions involving Matthew Nyes.

How close it got, I think, has probably been overstated a little bit in some circles.

I don't have the impression that they got right down to the final stages and ended up missing on a deal with him.

But let's look at the reasons why you would trade a Matthew Nyes.

I mean, he has no protection in his contract.

he's probably the most valuable asset the leafs have i'm not saying by any stretch he's their best player but if you got to a point at any stage where they're trying to trade one of the players with a no movement clause they're not as valuable on the market because they're going to dictate where they go it's not a true you know open process for bidding and so you know i think given where the season's gone where things are at it just made sense for the leafs to listen on nice

You know, Dregs may know differently, but I have no reason to believe they got close, close to getting anything done there.

But, you know, it's everything was on the table effectively and they listened and got a sense of his value.

And we'll see if they pick that up.

I don't even know he'll be making that call in the summertime, but it could obviously be something that's revisited down the road.

I mean, it's the question.

You're right, O-Dog.

It's not being communicated.

I still think that based on the fact they don't have their next two first-round picks, and we all know the conditions on this one, but effectively they've traded away two first-round picks coming up.

This is their first season out of the playoffs after nine years in, and they still have Matthews signed for two years and Willie signed for many more than that.

I think just on those circumstances alone, there's no way you do full rebuild.

Now, I suppose if Matthews did come at the end of the season and said, OK, I want out, that changes things.