Step by Step Guide to the Toronto Maple Leafs Off-Season

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The most exciting off-season in recent Toronto Maple Leafs history is almost upon us.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs on the verge of being legitimate Stanley Cup Contenders, I believe that the upcoming transition from rebuild to fine-tuning is going to be a lot of fun.

The Expansion Draft, the Entry Draft, the free-agent market and, hopefully, several trades.

I recently outlined why I think the Leafs are on the verge of, not only contending, but being the best team in hockey. What follows is my step-by-step guide on how to achieve that. The reason I think it can be achieved is simple: The Leafs already have a great team, they have cap space, assets, money, and will be hurt less than most teams by the Expansion Draft, and if the salary cap doesn’t rise.

Many of my ideas may be wrong, bad or even insane. They are just my opinions. These are just the things I would do if I was GM – which I am not. (And thank God for that, I can hear many of you saying!). But what if I was? Well, now you get to find out!

That said, this is really more about showing the kind of options the team has, as opposed to realistically guessing what they’ll actually do.

Don’t agree with my moves? Let me know what you’d do differently.

Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pre-Expansion Draft Period:

The Expansion Draft for the Las Vegas Knights will be held between June 18-20 and the results will be announced on the 21st, prior to the NHL Awards.

The latest the Stanley Cup Final can go is (I believe) June 13th.

That means once hockey officially ends for the year, there will be five days of anticipation leading up to the expansion draft. While teams who are eliminated can make moves whenever they want, nothing will be announced (one assumes) before the Final is over.

Leading up the Expansion Draft, I’m concerned that the Toronto Maple Leafs will lose an effective player or one of their young prospects. Depending on who they protect, there is a chance that they could lose Martin Marincin (a very effective player, no matter what anyone says), Connor Carrick (unlikely to be exposed), Josh Leivo (a shot-volume player they should definitely be keeping), Kerby Rychel (former 1st round pick), Brendan Leipsic (perhaps the team’s current top-prospect) or Seth Griffith (PPG AHL player).

Now, none of those players is likely to be a star in the NHL, but every single one of them looks like they will be (or already are) effective NHL players. Given how many injuries teams have, and that teams who lose good players in the expansion draft may be looking to re-stock, the Leafs should do what they can to hold on to all of these players.

I suggested earlier that the best way to make sure none of these guys gets picked is to expose Tyler Bozak. This idea was not popular at all. I still think it’s a good one, however the risk remains that Las Vegas will prefer prospects anyways and still take Leipsic or Rychel.

To that end I make my first move:

This trade would free up two protection spots. While the Leafs would be losing their best defensive forward (Leo) and their longest serving player (Bozak), I believe in the long-term, this is best for the team because both players can be replaced, and it leads to younger, more cost-controlled players staying.

After surveying the league for teams that the Expansion Draft is causing trouble for, I pass on a couple of rumored trades before the draft, deciding that JVR is a ridiculous price to pay for Josh Manson, and that the Wild are asking too much for Niedo Neiderreiter.

I do, however, make a trade with the Nashville Predators in exchange for Calle Jarnkrok, a versatile forward who is excellent at defense and has the best dollar-for-dollar value contract in the NHL.

The Predators will have to move Jarnkrok or lose him for nothing, and I believe a first round pick is a cheap price to pay for a player I know can be effective and who I have locked up for four more years at $2million each.

I know people don’t like trading draft picks, but if you want to win, it’s a necessity.

Expansion Draft:

After trading off Bozak and Komorov, I would be ready to submit my expansion draft protection list to the NHL.

Teams can choose between keeping three defenseman and ten players total, or four defenseman and eight players in total. In both situations you are allowed to protect one goalie.

Obviously, I would elect to protect ten players in total. For a list of who is ineligible and does not need protection, see here.

Protection List:

Goalie : Frederik Andersen

Defense: Jake Gardiner, Connor Carrick, Morgan Rielly

Forward: Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Connor Brown, Josh Leivo, Brandon Leipsic, Kerby Rychel, Calle Jarnkrok.

Exposed:

Matt Martin

Martin Marincin

Seth Griffith.

This is a lot better than losing Leivo or Leipsic. I am not thrilled about exposing Marincin or Griffith, but it’s impossible not to risk losing at least a couple guys you have to keep. Jarnkrok is a huge upgrade over Bozak, defensively anyways (which is what this team needs). And we maintain our prospects who are closest to the NHL.

NHL Entry Draft:

Having traded away the team’s first round pick, there isn’t much going down at the draft. I have no only one goal this weekend and that is to make a trade with the New Jersey Devils.

After long negotiations, we settle on this:

After the trade, we announce that Kovalchuck has been signed to a two-year deal worth $10 Million dollars.

Free Agency:

In Free Agency, I have three targets, and for the sake of fun, let us assume they all choose to sign with the Toronto maple Leafs.

Kevin Shattenkirk: Seven years, $49 dollars. It’s a huge contract and one day we’ll regret it, but hopefully not until after we win a couple Stanley Cups.

Joe Thornton: Two years, $10 Million, same as Kovalchuk. A lot of people don’t realize that Thornton remains an elite defensive player.

Cody Franson: Two years $6 Million. Like Thornton, the best thing about Franson is his proven ability to limit the other team’s shots on goal.

After completing the two drafts and a day of free-agency, I am confident that the Toronto Maple Leafs now have the best team in the NHL.

The Finished Product:

I set out to turn the Toronto Maple Leafs into the best team in the NHL. Here is what I accomplished as the team’s fake GM over the fictitious summer of 17.

Hyman – Matthews – Marner

van Riemsdyk – Nylander – Kapanen

Kovalchuck – Kadri – Brown

Jarnkrok- Thornton – Leivo

Rielly – Shattenkirk

Gardiner – Franson

Marincin – Zaitsev

Andersen

This assumes I have signed Connor Brown and Zach Hyman as restricted free-agents. If even one of Matt Martin and Eric Fehr can be traded in someway to get rid of their cap-hit, then this team would be cap-compliant. If the cap goes up, like it’s expected to, then it’s already good.

I don’t think there can be any doubt that if that team was actually assembled, that it would be – by far – the best team in hockey.

Realistically……

Obviously this isn’t going to happen. The Leafs have an outside chance of getting one of Kovalchuk or Thornton, but not both. I don’t know any team that would want to put nine or ten million dollars into their fourth line.

I remain skeptical on whether or not signing Kevin Shattenkirk is a good long-term move.

But what this shows – or at least what I hope it does – is the kind of position the Toronto Maple Leafs finds themselves in. That is to say that they have a ton of cap-space, they have a whole bunch of assets they can use to try and get better and they already have a good team.

More from Editor In Leaf

They don’t really have to break the bank, or abandon their current philosophy of slow, smart building. This just shows that with a little creativity, the Leafs are flooded with options.

Even if given ultimate control, I don’t really think I’d be this rash.

All I really want to do is point out that with some semi-realistic trades and signings, the Leafs are capable – should they choose to – of absolutely stacking their team this summer.

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