The Toronto Maple Leafs picked up a first round pick and Brendan Leipsec (forget about Jokinen, he was a dollar throw in) – but they had to add Mike Santorelli to the deal.
William DePaoli from InsidePittsburghSports.com said this in an article from yesterday:
“Pittsburgh tried to acquire Franson last February prior to the deadline offering Simon Despres” (InsidePittsburghSports.com)
Interesting.
Simon Despres was later traded by Pittsburgh for Ben Lovejoy in a head-scratching move by Jim Rutherford, so an assumption could be made that the Toronto Maple Leafs could have received Despres+ for Franson given Lovejoy’s talent level.