Surprising news out of Toronto last night from Luke Fox, sourced by Ilya Mikheyev's agent Dan Milstein, that Mikheyev has rescinded his trade request from earlier in the season, and is willing to take a discount to stay in Toronto.
Prior to training camp starting this year, it was reported that Ilya Mikheyev had requested a trade, because he thought he could bring more to a team with an opportunity being in the top six. Since then, despite battling some injuries, Ilya Mikheyev has had an incredibly successful season, finally finding his scoring touch, and netting 20 goals in 51 games.
Milstein now has clarified to Luke Fox that Mikheyev's trade request had more to do with wanting a fresh opportunity and his own frustration of not scoring much last season. Additionally, Milstein said Mikheyev's open market value could be up to $5M, but would be willing to take a discount on a contending team like Toronto.
This is certainly positive news for the Leafs front office, who have always committed to Mikheyev being better than his performance showed at times. Having a successful season now, he's earned a significant raise. Whether the Leafs will be able to retain him will be a matter of the salary cap, and how much of a discount Mikheyev is willing to take.
