Of Course the Toronto Maple Leafs Are Not Buying Out T.J. Brodie

On Monday afternoon, Frank Seravalli from DailyFaceoff.com mentioned Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie as a buyout option, and Hockey Twitter had an impromptu dunk fest.

Since he arrived in Toronto in 2020, Brodie has been the Toronto Maple Leafs best defensive defenseman, possible their best overall defenseman.

He was not effective in the playoffs, and his stats were drastically down from the regular season

During round one against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the defense pairing of Brodie and Jake McCabe kept Nikita Kucherov and Bradon Point to zero goals while playing 5v5, so it’s not like the results were even that bad, even if the Leafs were outplayed when he was on the ice.

It’s not like Brodie suddenly became a bad player, it is just that he probably shouldn’t have been paired with McCabe because both Florida and Tampa were able to take advantage of their lack of speed.

Of Course the Leafs Are Not Buying Out T.J. Brodie

The Leafs won’t buy out Brodie simply because he is a solid right-pairing defenseman who is worth his cap-hit and thus likely could easily be traded instead.

And that’s assuming they’d even want to get rid of him.

Yes, Brodie is in the final year of his contract, and removing his $5 million from Toronto’s cap would be nice, but the buyout option is short-sighted.

Sure, the first year of the buyout gives Toronto the complete $5 million in relief, but then they’ll have a $2.5 million charge against the cap the following season (2024-25). On top of all that, if you remove Brodie, you’ll need to replace him. How much will his replacement cost? Is Toronto really saving money or getting better by buying out Brodie? I don’t think they are. (Salary cap info from capfriendly.com)

Toronto general manager Brad Treliving knows Brodie well from their time together with the Calgary Flames. He knows how good Brodie is, and he’s smart enough not to judge a player based on 11 games.

I think Brodie will start the season with Toronto, and if he doesn’t bounce back to his usual form, Treliving can always trade him.

Toronto Maple Leafs Shouldn’t Buyout Matt Murray Either

The Leafs trade with the Ottawa Senators for Matt Murray didn’t turn out as well as planned, but I think they got enough out of Murray to count the trade as a win.

Considering that Ottawa paid Toronto to take Murray off their hands, he played well despite the injuries. Murray went 14-8-2 in 26 games for Toronto with a 3.01 GAA and a .903 SV%.
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)

Matt Murray is in the final year of his contract, which carries a $4,687,500 cap hit. If the Toronto Maple Leafs were to buy out Murray, they would save $4.1875 million this season but get charged $2 million in the 2024-25 season.

Just like the Brodie buyout, it only benefits Toronto this season. Treliving would be better off trying to trade Murray to a team needing a goaltender or willing to take on salary. Possible trade options include the Chicago Blackhawks or Arizona Coyotes. Both teams have over $30 million in available cap space.

There is also the option of keeping him, since his injury history makes it likely his cap hit could be hidden on the LTIR if he doesn’t play well.