3 Moves the Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Make in the Off-Season
By Joseph Zita
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 08: Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Montreal Canadiens during the second period at the Bell Centre on February 8, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. e. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
2. Shed Some Salary
At my number two spot I have one of the most important things that the Toronto Maple Leafs need to do during the off-season, and I think they will more than likely address it in my opinion and if they don’t I will be genuinely shocked.
They need to shed some salary one way or another,.
We all know the Toronto Maple Leafs are a great team already, but what could put them over the edge and actually could make them compete for a Stanley Cup is shedding some salary and addressing the blue line.
A lot of people say they have one of the worst blue lines in the league and I’m here to disagree, i’m not saying they have one of the greatest either but it defiantly isn’t one of the worst they are more in the middle in my opinion but when they are healthy.
However to address that blue line and make significant changes they will have to move on from a player or two. Here are a list of forwards I could see the Toronto Maple Leafs trading away to either shed salary or shed salary and get help on the blue line in the same trade.
Alex Kerfoot (3.5M), Andreas Johnsson (3.4M), Kasperi Kapanen (3.2M)
Some will suggest that they should go ahead and trade Marner or Nylander you spend years looking for pieces like this, and they are not even in their prime yet.
However if the trade is right and it’s in the Toronto Maple Leafs favour I say why not. Although I say the best pieces to move on from right now is probably Johnsson, Kerfoot, and or Kapanen.
This team also needs some depth on the blue line too, so if they can manage to either trade for or sign some depth defensemen in free agency to help solidify the blue line that’ll be an extra boost.