10 Thoughts on Life and the Toronto Maple Leafs
Welcome to the second edition of the “31 Thoughts” 10 Thoughts: Life & the Toronto Maple Leafs!
Over the past couple of weeks, Kyle Dubas has drastically changed the genetic makeup of the Toronto Maple Leafs roster, and I feel confident in saying that they have improved for the better. Take a look at some of the players we, unfortunately, had to say goodbye to but have the grateful opportunity to welcome into our franchise:
Out –> In:
Tyson Barrie –> TJ Brodie
Cody Ceci –> Zach Bogosian
Kyle Clifford –> Wayne Simmonds
Frederik Gauthier –> Joe Thornton
Kasperi Kapanen –> Jimmy Vessey
Kasimir Kaskisuo –> Aaron Dell
Andreas Johnsson –> Joey Anderson
Pontus Aberg –> Travis Boyd
Add in Alexander Barabanov and Mikko Lehtonen who were signed as free agents out of the KHL during the NHL pause and we are talking about possibly nine new players who could suit up for Toronto next season. That is quite the roster turnover. It is probably safe to assume this will be more or less the pool of players Sheldon Keefe will be able to pick his lineup from but there are still so many unknowns regarding the 2020-21 season.
What happens with the Marlies? Is the AHL going to have a season? How are the Toronto Maple Leafs prospects performing who are currently on loan? Do the Leafs actually have more cap space than we think? All that and more in this week’s edition of 10 Thoughts on Life and the Leafs!
Thought #1: The Marlies might travel alongside the Leafs?
Appearing on a recent episode of the Steve Dangle Podcast, Chris Johnston dropped a little bit of news for the viewers, specifically on how next season might unfold. He mentioned an idea floating around where we would see each NHL team be divided into two groups: an A-team and a B-team. The A-team would essentially be the main club (the NHL squad) and the B-team would be the minor club (the AHL squad).
The B-team would travel with the A-team wherever they went and would subsequently play the A-team’s opposing team’s B-team before the main clubs play each other. Now, that is a lot of words and maybe a little confusing so here’s a prime example: Let’s say Toronto is going to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. The Marlies – the B-team – would travel with the Toronto Maple Leafs and take on Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, either in the morning or afternoon on the same day the Leafs and Canucks are scheduled to square off.
Obviously, this is all speculation at this point, but this would be a massive advantage for the Leafs as they would be able to yo-yo their waiver-exempt players back and forth between the two teams in order to stay cap compliant for that specific day and allow their scratched players to get games in with the B-team instead of sitting in the press box.
With Toronto right up against the cap, and with Kyle Dubas reiterating this in a press conference recently, just like they did in 2019-20…
Thought #2: Might we see the Leafs run with a 20-man roster?
Coupled with the previous thought, it would make all the sense in the world for the Leafs to run with a 20-man roster next season. But lost in all of this discussion about the Leafs potential roster is just how much cap space Toronto could actually enter the 2020-21 season with.
If Keefe went with a lineup of,
Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
Mikheyev – Tavares – Marner
Kerfoot – Thornton – Simmonds
Vesey – Spezza – Barabanov
Rielly – Brodie
Muzzin – Holl
Dermott – Bogosian
Andersen
Campbell
This 20-man lineup would net the Leafs $1.37 million in cap space. Now, I do not believe this is what the lineup will look like come opening night (more on that next), but the purpose of this exercise is to show just how much cap space the Leafs could actually have should they run with the minimal lineup and send down most of their waiver-exempt players to the minors, including Mikko Lehtonen.
But you might question why the Toronto Maple Leafs would only run a minimal lineup if they had the space to avoid doing so. This way, they could keep the space and use it to upgrade their roster at the deadline as the more space you have when the season starts, the more it grows by the time the deadline arrives.
Similarly, with a ton of restricted free agents also without new deals for next season, the opportunity to strike on an unfortunate situation between player and team may be there for Dubas to take advantage of. With the forward group already pretty deep, any further addition will most likely come on the backend, where defensemen like Ryan Pulock, MacKenzie Weegar, or Vince Dunn could be had a discounted price. A 20-man roster would give the Leafs enough cap space to accommodate a salary of that nature.