Nope. Has to be on the team continuously since the deadline.

The trade should read Tanev traded for a 7th Rd pick, M. Ellis wasn't going to get a qualifying offer to stay with the Leafs.

Maybe Dallas will qualify him, in which case he still had trade value because if Dallas waited for him to become a UFA, they’d have to compete with other teams to sign him.

I sure hope they don’t sign him for 7 years! The guy is 34 years old. It should be two years at the most, maybe three if they can build the expected decline into his AAV.

The weird thing about these trades is they’re supposed to give the team exclusive negotiating rights until July 1, but how exclusive are they? I know teams aren’t supposed to talk to players before July 1 without the consent of the team who owns their rights, but given the speed with which contracts are signed on July 1, it’s difficult to believe they’re not.

The speed of contract signings on July 1st is due to players and their agents already know the term and $ they want, so there is little negotiating going on, just first team the player likes that meets their planned term/$$$ amount.

In this case if Tanev and his agent say we want $4 million AAV for 4yrs, the Leafs are the 1st in line.

But come July 1st another team may say we'll give you the $$$ you want plus add another year, just sign with us.

Or a team can say we'll give you $5 million AAV but for 3 years, just sign with us.

Dallas wins. They got something for nothing. If this was a sign and trade, then the Leafs would have won, but they don't have a deal and about 40 hours to finish the deal.

They got first dibs on Tanev for almost nothing. If it doesn't work out then the Leafs lose almost nothing. If it does work out then its a great deal for the Leafs.