Checking in on Former Toronto Maple Leafs Around the NHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had many players come through the organization that leave and find success elsewhere. For some, leaving was their own choice. For others, they either got traded or were not re-signed due to salary cap restrictions.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been operating with a limited amount of salary cap space since signing team captain John Tavares to $11 million a season for seven years back in 2018, although it hasn't seemed to hurt them much.
That said, having Tavares, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner all making over $10 million a season has made it tricky to keep other players. William Nylander's new contract ($11.5 million) begins next season, as does Matthews' new deal ($13.25 million). Soaring contracts make it hard to keep everyone happy. (Salary cap info from capfriendly.com)
Sometimes, players are well-liked internally by the players, coaches, and management but need to be traded for the team to try and improve.
Other times, players have a much different opinion of how much they're worth than the Leafs do, and therefore, the Leafs are unable to sign them, and they sign elsewhere. It is all just part of the business side of sports. Even more so with a hard salary cap like in the NHL.
As a fan of the Leafs, I wish most players the best of luck when they leave. I understand that it isn't always their choice to leave. Seeing them find success elsewhere is nice, so long as it's not against the Leafs. I thought it would be fun to look at a few former Leafs and see how well they're doing on their new team.
Rasmus Sandin
Rasmus Sandin is a first-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the 2018 NHL draft.
During his time in the Leafs organization, Sandin found decent success with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL and the Leafs in the NHL.
His play with the Leafs is best described as inconsistent. He played well from time to time, but never for a long stretch.
Before being dealt to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline last season, Sandin looked like his game was starting to take the next step.
Last season, between the Leafs and Capitals, he finished with seven goals and 28 assists for 35 points. Sandin has three goals and 15 assists for 18 points through 48 games this season. He is projected to finish with 28 points in 78 games. (All stats from hockey-reference.com)
The one thing I enjoy seeing with Sandin on the Capitals is the amount of playing time he is getting. His average ice time with the Leafs was 16:40 minutes.
Since he joined the Capitals, his average ice time is 21:52, and for a player who is turning 24 years old on March 7th, that amount of ice time is huge for his development. I enjoyed watching him play with the Marlies as well as the Leafs. Hopefully, he'll continue to find success with the Capitals.
He will become a restricted free agent this summer, so hopefully, for him, the Capitals will keep him for a long time. I wish nothing but the best for Sandin.
Zach Hyman
Allowing Zach Hyman to leave in free agency will be one of the Leafs biggest shockers from the Kyle Dubas era. Though it must be noted that the Leafs replaced him with Michael Bunting at one-fifth the cost (900K) for two years, and that in those two years he outperformed anything Hyman ever did on the Leafs (though he never became as beloved as Hyman).
After the 2020-21 season, Hyman became an unrestricted free agent (UFA). As much as fans wanted Hyman to re-sign, Dubas couldn't meet Hyman's asking price.
So, Hyman signed a seven-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers for $5.5 million a season.
Hyman played well during his time with the Leafs. He spent most of his time playing in the top six with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, and Nylander. Hyman registered 86 goals and 99 assists for 185 points in 345 games over six seasons.
The Leafs tried a couple of times to see if Hyman could run his own line by playing him on the third line, but it never worked. He thrives while playing with the stars of the team. He wanted a new deal that would pay him what he thought he was worth. The Leafs couldn't afford to sign him, so he had no choice but to leave.
Luckily for Hyman, the grass was greener on the other side. Since signing with the Oilers, Hyman has registered 101 goals and 93 assists for 194 points in 210 games.
He has 38 goals through 55 games this season and is on pace for 56 goals. It's hard to believe that Dubas couldn't find a way to keep Hyman with the Leafs. The Leafs would surely love to still have his offensive output in their top six.
Pierre Engvall
Pierre Engvall is no longer with the Leafs because he wanted a long-term deal worth more than the Leafs were willing to offer.
Maybe the Leafs would have offered him the $3 million he is making now, but not for the seven years he got from the New York Islanders.
He even got a minimum no-trade clause, which is absurd for a bottom-six player.
Engvall spent four seasons with the Leafs. He only had two decent point-producing seasons. However, he never registered more than 15 goals or 35 points.
Giving him a long-term contract didn't make sense, and his production doesn't warrant $3 million a season. I'm glad the Leafs traded him and got something (a 2024 third-round pick) for him.
The contract might be working for the Islanders right now, but we'll see if he's giving them what he paid for a couple of years from now. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting traded before his contract is up.
For now, things seem to be working for him. Maybe the grass will be greener for him with the Islanders, maybe it won't. Time will tell, but I think the Leafs have managed well enough without him.
Alex Kerfoot
The case of Alex Kerfoot is a peculiar one.
He signed a two-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes for $3.5 million a season. He is making the same amount as he was making with the Leafs. So, the dollar amount was not the issue, and the Leafs had enough to bring him back at that price.
It could be that either the Leafs or Kerfoot decided a change would be good.
Keeping Kerfoot over David Kampf seems like a no-brainer, but the Leafs new general manager, Brad Treliving, decided to re-sign Kampf to a four-year deal worth $2.4 million a season and sign Max Domi to a one-year deal worth $3 million.
The Domi signing is somewhat paying off, but Kampf has been terrible. Kampf over Kerfoot seems like a big mistake on Treliving's part.
Kerfoot registered 40 goals and 94 assists for 134 points in 285 games with the Leafs. He has eight goals and 25 assists for 33 points in 57 games with the Coyotes this season.
The 29-year-old is projected to register 48 points in 82 games. It would be the second-highest point total of his career. He had 51 points with the Leafs during the 2021-22 season. Kerfoot is signed until the end of next season, so if his time in Arizona doesn't pay off, he'll be free to move on elsewhere.
Michael Bunting
Michael Bunting left the Leafs as a UFA in the summer.
I think his asking price was too high for the Leafs, and both sides decided to part ways.
Bunting signed a three-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes for $4.5 million a season. The Leafs could have made a deal in that price range work, but Treliving wanted to sign other players like Tyler Bertuzzi instead.
The Leafs were well rewarded for the production Bunting offered at under $1 million. He registered 46 goals and 66 assists for 112 points in 161 games during two seasons with the Leafs. Those numbers are much better than they look because Bunting's production was mostly at 5v5 and he never played on the top power-play unit.
He was a fan favorite for many reasons, but he developed a reputation with NHL refs that resulted in him getting a lot of penalties. That could be another reason why he didn't get re-signed.
Bunting has 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points in 57 games for the Hurricanes this season.
He is on pace for 49 points, which would match his production from last season. The Hurricanes have him until the end of the 2025-26 season, so we'll see if he can achieve great things with them or become another ex-Leaf who tried to find success elsewhere and failed.
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Time will tell, and who knows, maybe he will return to his hometown team later in his career for one last run.