Maple Leafs trade Marleau, picks to Hurricanes for 6th-rounder

The Toronto Maple Leafs dealt forward Patrick Marleau as well as a conditional first-round pick and a seventh-round selection to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in exchange for a sixth-rounder, the clubs announced.

All picks are in the 2020 draft.

If the first-round pick is in the top 10, Carolina will instead receive Toronto's first-rounder in 2021, according to Hurricanes senior web producer Michael Smith.

Should the Hurricanes be unable to convince Marleau to play for them, they'll buy him out and he'll become an unrestricted free agent, Carolina general manager Don Waddell confirmed to TSN's Pierre LeBrun later Saturday.

The veteran forward thanked the Leafs organization from his wife Christina's Twitter account shortly after the trade was made official.

Hi, Patrick here. I don't have my own social media, so I wanted to come here and say a few words to @MapleLeafs, their fans and also to @Marner93 and @AM34 pic.twitter.com/6Te4oePdLa

- Christina Marleau (@c_marleau) June 22, 2019

Marleau, who'll turn 40 in September, has one year left on his contract at a cap hit of $6.25 million.

He signed with the Leafs as a free agent in July 2017 after spending the first 19 seasons of his career with the San Jose Sharks.

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