Patrick Marleau traded to the Carolina Hurricanes

2016 NHL Stanley Cup Final - Game ThreeThe Toronto Maple Leafs have found a dance partner willing to take Patrick Marleau’s 2019-20 $6.25 million cap hit off of their hands, sending the veteran winger to Carolina on Saturday morning.

The price to offload Marleau’s remaining year: a conditional first-round pick in the 2020 draft that is top-10 protected (shifts to 2021 if it’s inside the top 10) and a seventh-round pick in 2020. The Leafs will receive Carolina’s sixth-round pick in 2020 as the asset coming back in the deal.

The Leafs have taken a harsh dose of medicine here in order to gain significant and much-needed cap flexibility, giving them around $14 million in cap space to get RFAs…