Toronto Maple Leafs: Editor in Leaf Monday Mailbag

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be in the offseason, but there’s still lots to discuss.

It’s Monday and the time has come to answer your Toronto Maple Leafs questions from this past week.

There wasn’t really any theme, just some questions all over the map, which is totally fine.

I also found an old one that was buried in my emails, so I apologize to Ron for not getting this one up earlier.

Anyways, let’s get right to it.

Still Relevant

You’re going to read the question and ask yourself why I included it.

It still has relevance, I know Holm signed elsewhere, but we can still discuss it as a hypothetical or something to be considered in the future under similar circumstances.

I’ll answer this in two parts, first being if Holm was still available.

Short answer, no.

I don’t think the Leafs need to add another left-handed defenseman and a third from Sweden to boot.

Why offer a third player in that short of a time a contract when it’s not a top priority.

Okay, they acquired two solid defenders, but neither fit the greater need the team needs on the back end.

Now, I’m going to answer it in real time.

My guess is that Matt Hunwick won’t be resigned and they wanted more of a safety net at the position if Travis Dermott needs more developing.

It also doesn’t hurt adding good defenders at any point in time, but ya, I would say that Andreas Borgman will serve in that capacity better than Holm would have.

Good job by the Leafs.

The Bonus

More from Editor In Leaf

Here’s one I received via email and mind the spelling mistake, I thought it was funny.

Mr. Boehner:

If Auston Matthews wins the rookie award, will he get an additional bonus and how much will it add to the Leafs cap overage this year going into next?

-J. Benoit

I love it, Boehner.

Anyways, Matthews won’t receive any bonus for winning the Calder Trophy, which he will win, mark my words.

For a full breakdown of bonuses, I want to direct you to this article posted by Pension Plan Puppets.

It’s really well done and gives a full description of players bonuses.

Quite useful and a good cheat sheet.

Tackling the C

Lastly, another email question.

What do you think about putting the C on Kadri? This would be great for Canada’s diversity along with helping Kadri mature further, in my opinion. My next choice would be JVR if he doesn’t get traded in the offseason. I’m against putting it on any of this year’s rookies until they’ve had more time to mature. They’ve got enough on their plates.

An avid fan since 1960!

Cheers,

-Ron

When discussing the next captain of the Leafs, I rarely hear Kadri’s name pop up, so it’s nice to see some appreciation for his improvements.

Before Mike Babcock took over, I wasn’t a big Kadri fan, but that’s all changed.

He competes hard and is maturing into a nice leadership role.

However, I think there are better options for the role and that’s not to say that Kadri isn’t captain material.

Matthews and Morgan Rielly to name a couple would serve it better although you don’t need a label to be a leader.

Just lead whether there’s an A, C or not.

As for James van Riemsdyk, I really don’t see it happening.

If he were to don a label with the Leafs, it would have happened already.

I’ll reiterate what I’ve previously said and that’s the fact that rolling with four A’s again next season isn’t a bad thing.

Who cares about slapping the C on someone if it’s not vital.

That does not define leadership.

Thanks and Next Week

Many thanks to the questions that came in this week and special thanks to those whose questions were featured.

Please keep sending them in on Twitter, @acboehmer or by email, acboehmer@liberty.edu and I look forward to our next mailbag on Monday, June 5.

Looking to next week’s questions/answers and remember to have them in by Monday at noon.