Looking Ahead to the Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 Off-Season

The Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 off-season has been decent for GM Kyle Dubas. He added the depth he needed for his bottom-six forward group and defense. Dubas also retooled Toronto’s goaltending with two new goaltenders.

This off-season, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost Colin Blackwell, Ilya Mikheyev, Jason Spezza (retired), and Ondrej Kase from their forward group. Dubas replaced them with Nicolas Aube-Kuble, Adam Gaudette, and Calle Jarnkrok. One or two players from the Toronto Marlies will also be trying to earn a spot in the  Leafs  lineup.

The team’s defense has not seen as much change as the forward group. Toronto only lost Ilya Lyubushkin from the defense core. Dubas re-signed RFA Timothy Liljegren to a two-year deal. He also signed UFA’s Jordie Benn and Victor Mete to one-year contracts. Dubas is still negotiating a new contract with RFA Rasmus Sandin.

As for Toronto’s goaltending, they traded Petr Mrazek to Chicago and lost Jack Campbell in free agency to the Edmonton Oilers. To replace them, Dubas signed UFA Ilya Samsonov to a one-year contract and traded for Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 Off-Season Will be More Difficult

With the number of Toronto Maple Leafs becoming free agents next summer, Dubas will be busy.  .

Michael Bunting, Alex Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall, David Kampf, Nicolas Aube-Kuble, Wayne Simmonds, and Justin Holl will all be UFA’s next summer. Joey Anderson and Adam Gaudette will also be RFA’s next summer. Toronto will not have the salary cap space to keep all of them, so Dubas will need to prioritize.

The salary cap is supposed to be $83.5 million for next season. According to capfriendly.com, Toronto currently has just over $15 million in cap space for next season. It will be lower   when Rasmus Sandin signs. It is unknown how much it will cost to re-sign Bunting, but he should be the top priority for Dubas.

Bunting registered 23 goals and 40 assists for 63 points in 79 games last season. Playing on the same line as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner helps Bunting’s point production. Even if he takes a hometown discount, Bunting will be looking for a nice payday if he records another 60+ points this season. (Stats from hockey-reference.com)

Toronto also needs to decide on what to do with Alex Kerfoot. He makes $3.5 million and will want a raise after this season. Will Dubas try to re-sign Kerfoot or sign a different UFA for Toronto’s top-six?

Suffice to say,  what the Leafs do next season is up in the air at this point, because unless the team finds the success they have so far been denied, everything from the plan to who is implementing it could change.

That, combined with so many contracts coming due at once will make next summer one of the most interesting in recent Leafs history.