On Monday, Pierre LeBrun appeared on the Vancouver TSN radio station and very briefly discussed the Leafs and the long-rumoured potential trade with the Caronlina Hurricanes.

This is precisely what he said, not cut to Twitter length, or in any other way altered or added to. This topic came up after the program host on Sekeres and Price asked him about what sort of asset the Leafs would be willing to give up to move Marleau to Arizona.

Host: Would Johnsson or Kapanen be nonstarters, do you think? Is that crazy talk?

LeBrun: I don’t know, and it’s a good question. I actually used those guys in another example of something I think Carolina would like to do. I think the Hurricanes, who have kept tabs with the Leafs here since the offseason has begun, I think, you know that this goes back to some idea that Carolina had during the year about Toronto is that, you know, the Hurricanes would like to add a young top-six forward. And I think they’re in a position where they feel they have to trade one of their three right-handed D. Well, who needs a right-handed D more than the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Host: Yeah

LeBrun: So, this is not a Marleau conversation, this is a Zaitsev conversation. You know, if they package Zaitsev to Carolina along with Johnsson or Kapanen, and does that get you Pesce or Faulk or Dougie Hamilton? I mean, I think that’s … I would monitor that one because I think it’s something that the Hurricanes might be willing to do at some point.

Now here’s the thing: Zaitsev has a $3 million signing bonus, I think, on July 1. In a perfect world where every dime counts in Carolina, probably waiting until after that would be a better time, but you know, the Leafs may not be in a position to wait. The Leafs may have to start acting on some of these situations before then, because they want to get Mitch Marner signed. So everything comes back to Mitch Marner as always.

That was the entire segment, but if you want to hear him talk some more about Marleau and who the Leafs might, could, or may consider trading to get rid of his cap hit, please click the link above.

Below in the comments we can answer the thing LeBrun posed as a speculative question: “Does that get you Pesce, Faulk or Dougie Hamilton?”

We have an update!

LeBrun went on Leafs Lunch today, and they talked about Boston, Boston, Boston as most media seem to do. But then at the 5:55 minute mark he expands on his off-the-cuff remarks from the other day that are transcribed above.

I’m not sure if anyone tweeted out a garbled version of this one, but LeBrun clarifies that he has no knowledge of any talks between Toronto and Carolina. As is actually clear from his original remarks, he was speculating about the ways in which Dubas could move Zaitsev without taking back a bad contract.

He does say that Carolina has discussed internally the idea of using one of the defenders to get a forward in a trade of that sort. But not specifically with the Leafs.

My advice never changes. Listen to the original report yourself, and make sure you can tell the difference between a report of information someone has received about an actual trade discussion (like the Marleau to LA thing) and speculation about the kinds of trades that could happen (like this one). I’m not sure how anyone could have mistaken the original radio hit for the former without help from the giant game of telephone that is Twitter.