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Pierre Engvall Injury Could Help Toronto Maple Leafs With Cap

By Stephen Nixon |
May 14, 2022; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Pierre Engvall (47) follows the play against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of game seven of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
May 14, 2022; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Pierre Engvall (47) follows the play against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of game seven of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The last thing the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted was for Pierre Engvall to be injured to start the season, but it may end up benefiting the roster.

Injuries don’t typically happen before the season starts but that seems to be the case to Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Pierre Engvall.

According to Frank Seravalli, “Engvall has been a little bit banged up this summer and may miss a little bit of time,” what does this mean for the Leafs moving forward?

Well, it could actually benefit the team in the long-run, as they currently have cap-issues, especially with the fact that they still need to re-sign Rasmus Sandin.

Engvall makes $2.25M this season, which is a pretty substantial cap-hit, considering that’s roughly the same amount of money they’ll need to re-sign Sandin. Essentially, they could replace Engvall with Sandin, and then figure out a solution later.

Engvall’s Injury Could Help the Toronto Maple Leafs Re-Sign Sandin

Pushing this problem down the road isn’t always a great solution, but it worked last year when the Leafs put Ilya Mikheyev on injured reserve to start the season, which helped them get salary-cap compliant.

We have no idea how long Engvall could be out, but that money could really help the roster.

Not only does Engvall’s injury help the possibility of re-signing Sandin, without losing anyone immediately, but it will allow another depth forward to make a splash during Training Camp.

As it stands right now, Engvall would be a top-nine forward for the Leafs, but if one of the other forwards plays well in Training Camp (especially one making league minimum), it could make him trade-bait.

For example, the Leafs bottom-six is crowded. Nine of the 12 forwards are locks (if you include a healthy Engvall), which means the team only has three spots for roughly eight guys.

Those eight players include: Adam Gaudette, Joey Anderson, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Zach Aston-Reese, Nick Abruzzese, Nick Robertson, Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Cliford.

Who’s to say that someone like Joey Anderson can’t make this roster or be as efficent as Engvall? Or what if Wayne Simmonds all of a sudden turns back the clock because he understands that he’s not guaranteed a roster spot right now?

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We have no idea how long Engvall will be out for, but you couldn’t have got injured at a worse spot for you’re him. Not only will he be slow coming back to start the year, but if someone else steps up to the plate while he’s gone at a cheaper rate, he could end up getting Wally-Pipped.

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