Report: No “hometown discount” coming for Leafs in Jack Campbell negotiations

The Toronto Maple Leafs held their season ending media availability today with the team's players, coaches and management group all meeting with reporters to break down what exactly went wrong en route to another impressive regular season that ultimately ended with a first round exit.

While all of the questions for the players mostly revolved around the idea of improving and "getting over the hump", the real tough questions came for GM Kyle Dubas and President Brendan Shanahan. The Leafs face a perpetual cap crunch given the big money contracts handed out in recent years, so that means pending free agents like Ilya Mikheyev and Ilya Lyubushkin are likely history... but what about goaltender Jack Campbell? The 30 year old Campbell is slated to become an unrestricted free agent and with backup Petr Mrazek signed for two more seasons at $3.8 million something's got to give. 

Sure, the Leafs want Campbell back in the fold but at what cost? 

When reporters asked Campbell about the possibility of taking a "hometown discount" to stay with the Leafs, the goaltender did a masterful job of dancing around the shubject.

Check it out:

In other words: "Talk to my agent."

You know what, though? I don't blame Campbell for wanting to get paid what he's worth. He's bounced around between the AHL and the NHL so much over his career that you can't blame a guy for wanting to get some stability. And cold hard cash goes a long way toward securing stability.