During the first leg of free agency, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed nine players, but within those deals, only one of those names were notable.
The team solved their goaltending issues by acquiring Petr Mrazek immediately, but they still have some unanswered questions in their lineup.
David Kampf and Michael Bunting will have a strong possibility of making the opening night roster, but that’s not going to make this team a Stanley Cup favorite. Obviously, those two could surprise and delight everybody, but this team still needs to make another addition or two.
As of right now, the team is right up against the salary cap. However, they could easily shed a few million dollars by sending down a player or two and/or trading a current roster player.
Based on some of those other free agency additions, Pierre Engvall, Alex Kerfoot and/or Ilya Mikheyev should be concerned at whether or not they’re going to be part of Toronto’s future. The Leafs added a potential third-line centre replacement for Kerfoot in Kampf, while Bunting is almost guaranteed a role somewhere.
As such, it’ll be very interesting to see what Sheldon Keefe and Kyle Dubas have planned for this roster on opening night.
It would make a ton of sense to find another top-six left-winger who can play with the core-four and another depth defenseman, but they’ll have to do it very cheaply.
Here are three depth UFA’s still available that the Toronto Maple Leafs should target.