The Toronto Maple Leafs season ended disastrously with a 6-1 loss in the pivotal Game 7 against the Florida Panthers. Although the Leafs made it to the second round for just the second time in the Auston Matthews era, it was pretty clear that anything short of making it to the Conference Final would be deemed a failure. Whatever hope the Leafs gave their fans with their impressive win in game six was erased quickly by the Panthers in Game 7
Now that the Leafs season is over, the focus shifts to the offseason. The biggest story this offseason will be what happens with Mitch Marner. He will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Many around the NHL believe he'll be seeking north of $13 million. Marner refused to negotiate during the regular season, and it was reported that Marner rejected a trade at the NHL trade deadline that would have sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen.
John Tavares, Max Pacioretty, Steven Lorentz, Jani Hakanpaa, Alex Nylander, Dakota Mermis, Nicolas Mattinen, and Matt Murray are the other Leafs becoming UFAs this off-season. Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is unlikely to re-sign all of them. He also has restricted free agents Matthew Knies, Nicholas Robertson, Pontus Holmberg, Roni Hirvonen, Cedric Pare, Reese Johnson, Topi Niemela, Mikko Kokkonen, William Villeneuve, and Dennis Hildeby to worry about.
However, of all the UFAs and RFAs mentioned, Matthew Knies should be Treliving's top priority. Knies went from 15 goals and 35 points in his rookie campaign last season to 29 goals and 58 points this season. He also registered five goals and seven points in the Leafs' 13 playoff games. Knies is becoming one of the best power forwards in the NHL, and at 22 years old, he's only going to get better. I hope Treliving and the Leafs do whatever it takes to re-sign Knies to a long-term contract.
One of the reasons I think the Leafs should make Knies their top priority is to remove the risk of another team using an offer sheet on Knies which could drastically increase how much the Leafs would have to pay to keep him. Depending on the amount offered would also increase how much a team would have to compensate the Leafs. I don't see the Leafs not matching an offer sheet for Knies unless the amount is insanely high (more than $8 million a season).