Eight just too many for Quinn

By TIM WHARNSBY -- Toronto Sun Maple Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn comments on trade rumours as often as he tosses around man-hole covers.
Nevertheless, the question had to be asked yesterday. Did trading of likable defenceman Sylvain Cote to the Chicago Blackhawks put an end to the possibility of the Leafs putting together a package of players for a big-name player like Keith Primeau or Bill Guerin?
Weren't the Leafs supposed to be stockpiling assets to get better up front?
"I certainly looked at that side," Quinn said. "It was a possibility."
But when it was time for Dimitri Yushkevich finally to sign his contract, giving the Leafs eight defenceman and one player over the 23-player limit, Quinn rushed to a quick solution.
Quinn did not want to have eight defencemen on his roster again. He had enough of that last season when former associate GM Mike Smith saddled him with that many.
"The luxury of having that eighth defenceman did two things (this time)," Quinn said. "It got in the way of Alyn McCauley coming back right away and, secondly, a guy (Cote) in his last year prior to becoming an outright free agent is a diminishing asset.
"If you miss another two weeks or five weeks or eight weeks (in not trading the extra player) it gets tougher to make a deal. That also goes with making bigger deals because other teams do not want to take on two salaries.
"The league is without a salary cap, but each team has a cap. Most teams know what they want to spend."
Quinn could have sent a forward or a defenceman to St. John's, but the Leafs risked losing that player being picked up on waivers.
Quinn also said that another defenceman could have become trade bait had Cote agreed to a contract extension.

CHANGED
"It might have changed our situation here," Quinn said. "It might have meant another defenceman.
"But this trade has freed some money up to do possibly something else."
The Leafs dropped Cote's $1.5-million US salary, but picked up Yushkevich's $1.6-million US ticket.
"To me, this was not an easy move," Quinn said. "Things were going right, so why touch it?"

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