NHL to investigate Maple Leafs for tampering

Remarks by Maple Leafs' head coach Ron Wilson on a Toronto radio station could prove to be very costly.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the Maple Leafs are under investigation by the NHL due to Wilson's comments on the club's interest in Daniel and Henrik Sedin prior to July 1st, the first day that unrestricted free-agents could test the market.

On Tuesday June 31st, Wilson told Toronto radio station The Fan 590 that:

"You're hearing right now, and this sounds very contradictory but, there's a real possibility, I would think, that we would be going after the Sedins. Let's just speculate there."

Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke confirmed that the league was investigating the remarks.

"The league has indicated that they are looking into it, so we will have no public commentary at this time," Burke told the Globe and Mail Monday night.

While NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly did not confirm that the league was investigating tampering allegations against the Maple Leafs, he did say that the Vancouver Canucks have not filed a complaint with the league.

"We wouldn't normally comment on whether or not we were investigating a club for a potential tampering violation," Daly told the Globe and Mail.

"No, the Canucks have not filed tampering charges."

The Sedin brothers ended up resigning with the Canucks with identical five year contracts worth $6.1 million per season.

Personally, this is a non-issue. It's not the first time that a Coach or GM says that they would love to have that player or this one or this one. The fact that the Canucks didn't filed is also telling me the same thing. No tampering here

Will Coaches and GM be allowed to talk anymore? He didn't said that he WILL coach the Sedin twins, he said that he WOULD LOVE to coach them. And I think that everybody WOULD LOVE to have the brothers on their lineup. So, if I say that I like Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin, is that tampering?

Oh, and by the way... June 31st? What June 31st?