Brian Burke could acquire goaltender before the trade deadline on Feb. 27.
In an interview with TSN Radio on Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs general manager said it’s an option he will look into in the coming days.
“We have not been dabbling in that market, so I don’t know,” Burke said. “But certainly it is something we have to explore and find out what the price tags are.”
But Burke said he is not down on Jonas Gustavsson, despite the goaltender’s bad game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, a 4-3 Leafs loss in overtime.
“It is very hard to watch to what happened last night and not wonder if we have enough,” Burke said. “But before you shovel dirt on Jonas Gustavsson, in my opinion, he has saved our season. The only reason we are in the hunt is because of him. When James Reimer got hurt, he stepped in and bailed us out. When James Reimer stumbled in January, he stepped in and bailed us out. The reason why we are even talking about a playoff spot is because of Jonas Gustavsson. No one should lose sight of that.
“Last night, I have no answer for that. There were three goals that went in that have to stay out. Yes, he made some stellar saves around those goals, but the winning goal was going wide.”
Among those goalies who could be available are Nikolai Khabibulin of the Edmonton Oilers, Evgeni Nabokov of the Edmonton Oilers and Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Colorado Avalanche.
On Rick Nash, Burke said it is “not true” that he has an offer on the table for the Columbus Blue Jackets star.