Toronto Maple Leafs Free Agents: Who Should Sign, Who Should Walk?

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a perfect off-season so far: no bad contracts given!

Jokes aside, the Toronto Maple Leafs have several free-agents on their own roster to deal with before they even begin to think about adding players or making trades or adding to the roster.

The Leafs are clearly sticking with the main core of their team, but if for no other reason than the salary cap, they are going to have to make some tough decisions.

For example: Ilya Mikheyev is a PK weapon who added a nice component to the team and made them that much tougher to play against last season. But how much is he worth?

Do the Leafs gamble that he has more to give? Do they dare let risking him walk? And what about Pierre Engvall?

The biggest question of all is clearly what to with Jack Campbell, who was the NHL’s best goalie in the calendar year of 2021, but who was also ranked 69th out of 75 goalies, over three years, in saving high danger shots.

Which Campbell is the real deal and how much is it worth to find out?

The game is simple: we list out the Leafs Free Agent, and we say what we think the team should do with him, while you play along at home.

Timothy Liljegren (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Toronto Maple Leafs Restricted Free Agents of 2022

According to Cap Friendly, the Toronto Maple Leafs have eight free-agents on their roster right now. These are split evenly between restricted free-agents (the player can only sign with the Leafs unless traded or given an “offer sheet” from another team which essentially forces a trade) and unrestricted free-agents (players who can sign with any team).

Restricted Free Agents:

Pierre Engvall – the Leafs should definitely sign Engvall, who has a great combination of skill, size and defensive abilities. He was starting to scratch the surface of his potential this past year, and he still shouldn’t cost too much.

I would sign Engvall to as many years as he would go at $1.5, but I would not pay more for this player.

Ondrej Kase – He’s super talented but really prone to injury. I’d sign him just for the upside, but not with any expectations that he’d end up helping too much. Give him the same contract he had last year and everyone can be happy. As good as he is when healthy, you can’t rely on him so no reason to give him any term or money.

Timothy Liljegren – Eventually he’s going to earn a huge contract, so if any kind of term you can get from him is going to save you some big money down the road. I think he’d be a good candidate to overpay in the short-term so you can have him really cheap down the road.

$4 million for eight years? If not, expect him to sign for $1.5 to $2.5 for three or less years.

Rasmus Sandin – The same exact situation, only he has arbitration rights and will get an extra 500K even though he’s the second best out of the two.

May 14, 2022; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell (36 Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports /

Unrestricted Free Agents

Colin Blackwell – one year one million or let him go. Probably worth a small bet, has some potential but didn’t impress me too much so far.

Ilya Mikheyev – I’d offer him one-year at what Kerfoot is currently making then trade Kerfoot, but you can’t get tricked into giving term or big money to mid-range players. I really like Engvall, but I believe talent is easy enough to get at the league minimum that I’d pass on him and channel his money into getting a star player in a different transaction.

Ilya Lyubushkin – Defensive players with no offensive upside are great due to always being dirt-cheap. I’d sign Lyubushin for as many years as it takes to get him at $1 million, or $1.5 at the absolute most.

Jack Campbell – It was a nice story and a great run, but since you are rolling the dice with Campbell on a new deal, you might as well roll those dice with someone cheaper. Or don’t gamble at all, and pay what it takes to get one of the four or five best goalies in the world. Either way, Jack Campbell, unless he signs cheap for one year, should be done in Toronto.

Next. How the Leafs Can Go About Getting Their Dream Goalie. dark

And that is how you play the free-agent game. Scores to follow.

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