Every Single Free-Agent Option for the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to free-agency to help improve their roster for next season.

While the Stanley Cup Final is underway and the Tampa Bay Lightning are leading the series 2-0 as it shifts back to Montreal for Game 3 Friday night, it’s always pertinent to continue to dissect the playoff anomaly and dream-dashing reality that is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Come July 28, the Leafs will be able to start shopping in free agency and the quality of product (as well as the dearth of capital to spend) is quite substantial.

Here is a look at Toronto’s Cap situation as it currently stands, followed by a breakdown of notable acquisitions in the 2021 NHL free agent class, by position, with a panache of armchair GM sprinkled on the side (Stats from hockey-reference.com, Cap info from capfriendly.com).

PROJECTED CAP HIT

$70,644,783 (out of 81,500,000)

PROJECTED CAP SPACE

$10,855,217

RETAINED SALARY

$1,200,000 (Phil Kessel, final year, included in projected cap hit)

Excluding Travis Dermott, the lone RFA on the current roster, Toronto has 16 of 23 roster spots locked up with approximately 10.85 million left to spend. That’s not a lot of capital for seven players, which is particularly frustrating considering some of the names on the impending free agent market.

One of Kerfoot or Dermott is most likely obtained by Seattle in the expansion draft. If it’s the former then that’s an extra 3.5 million of cap space. The latter cost only 863K last year and is younger with a higher ceiling so I’d expect him to be Toronto’s lone claimed player (Unless Justin Holl is moved prior to the July 21 expansion draft, allowing Dermott to potentially be protected). Expect that 10.85 million figure with seven spots remaining to be on point, though, come free agency.

On to the 2021 NHL free agent class: