No 2: Pierre Engvall
By all accounts, Pierre Engvall is not going to be part of the 12-man roster on opening night for the Leafs. Based on his skillset and contract, if he gets sent to the Toronto Marlies, he’d more than likely get claimed by another team because he’s not waiver exempt.
Instead of letting him walk for free, it may make sense to trade him.
Even though his $1.25M contract is reasonable, the Leafs may decide to keep someone like Kurtis Gabriel who’s making $750K instead, because that extra cash could come in handy down the road.
During his tenure over the past two years, Engvall has been a good player. He’s put up decent stats, but he’s had an issue with consistency. He would score in bunches and then go cold for 20 games, which isn’t something you want.
His size (6-foot-4, 215 pounds) is nice to have, but you can sacrifice losing him based on his production alone.
Engvall is a great 13th forward, but if you think you’re going to lose him on waivers for free, it might be worth trading him to gain an asset.