The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be movers and shakers this off-season.
As we saw with the Kasperi Kapanen trade earlier this week, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be making big-moves this summer.
The Leafs need a right-handed defenseman, but first, they need cap-space. In their first move of the off-season, the Leafs did exactly what they needed to do: Clear KAP-anen space. Kapanen is a bottom-six forward on the Leafs roster and is slotted behind William Nylander and Mitch Marner, who are not going anywhere.
At $3.2 million per season, there was no room for Kapanen on this team anymore and the Leafs perfectly executed this trade to Pittsburgh. Not only did they clear space, but they received a first-round pick, a fringe NHLer and a highly-touted prospect.
The last time the Leafs had to move a contract to clear space, they were the one’s giving away a first-round pick in the Patrick Marleau trade, so this is a much better result.
The Leafs Have Four Players on The Trade Block
As reported by James Mirtle of The Athletic on Wednesday, “according to multiple NHL teams, no fewer than four intriguing Leafs are being dangled to varying degrees.”
It’s speculated that those four Leafs are: Andreas Johnsson, Alex Kerfoot, Freddie Andersen and Pierre Engvall.
Those four names are not surprising at all.
Johnsson makes $3.4 million for the next three seasons and although he’s a solid-winger, you can use that money elsewhere.
Kerfoot is another player that didn’t perform at the highest degree this season who is making too much money for the third line. He played much better in the qualifying series but at $3.5 million for three more seasons, he would be a good trade chip to clear space.
One of the bigger surprises, yet not surprising at all, is Andersen. With one year left on his contract at $5 million, the Leafs may not think he’s their goaltender of the future. Therefore, instead of letting him walk in Free Agency, it may make sense to trade him for defensive help.
The last one is Engvall, who is only making $1.25 million. The contract is cheap, but as a replaceable player, I think the Leafs would like to have their entire fourth-line making less than $1 million each.
Many Possibilities Open Up With Cap-Space
If the Toronto Maple Leafs sell all of these players without taking on similar contracts, they would have an additional $13.15 million in cap-space, giving them $21.2 million to sign 11 players.
Assuming Alexander Barabanov, Mikko Lehtonen, Nick Robertson and Jason Spezza all play next season, that would give the Leafs roughly $18 million to sign seven players.
That’s a TON of cash.
It feels like unless there’s a real hockey deal out there, the Leafs are going to be stock-piling draft picks and entry-level contracts by trading their assets.
Cap-space is the most valuable thing in the NHL and when you’re a young exciting team like the Leafs are, free agents are going to want to sign here.
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has a new-school philosophy and believes that the team can win with their core-four making $40 million, so it’ll be very exciting to see who he can lure to Toronto with cap-flexibility.
If Dubas can clear cap-space and then trade or sign a few big-name defenseman, the Leafs could be a Stanley Cup contender for the 2020-21 season.