The Toronto Maple Leafs Official Off-Season Game Plan
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not the team in disarray that social media makes them out to be.
The Florida Panthers are about to embark upon their second-straight Stanley Cup Final and the Leafs are not that far behind the Panthers.
The core of the Leafs -Marner, Nylander and Matthews - is as good as anyone's top three, and if the Leafs find a way to add a number-one defenseman and an elite goalie to that trio they will find themselves playing in the Stanley Cup Finals as well.
Tempers might be high right now, but the Leafs have several low-priced, potentially high-impact young players in Matthews Knies, Nick Robertson, Bobby McMann, Easton Cowan, Fraser Minten, Timothy Liljegren and Joseph Woll.
That that many players will be cheap and hungry right when the Leafs best three players hit their primes could be excellent timing for the Leafs.
With that in mind, here is what my plan would be for the off-season. It may not exactly be the official plan, but if you believe that Brad Treliving is a good GM, then it just might turn out to be.
Toronto Maple Leafs Off-Season Plan
Step One: Bertuzzi and Domi.
I have said that the Leafs should not sign either player, but that was because I assumed that they would be prohibitively expensive.
If either player would take a team-friendly contract (under $5 for Bertuzzi and under $3 for Domi) the Leafs could be a very deep team.
There is a lot to be said for having Bertuzzi and Knies locked in the top-six LW spots forcing teams to deal with them for over half a game.
I would definitely prioritize Bertuzzi over Domi for sure. The Knies/Bertuzzi combo is really tempting and the Leafs are incredibly hard to play against when both guys are having a good night.
If they are cheap enough, bring them back, but be prepared to move on if they want big money or crazy term.
Step Two: Goalie
I would have one target and one target only: Jussu Saros.
First, he is among the top goalies in the game over the last several seasons and is incredibly cheap for one more year before you have to make him insanely rich.
I really like having a goalie in a contract season, and him and Woll would be so cheap compared to what other teams pay for a top goalie.
Saros is said to be available and the Leafs need a goalie. This trade doesn't need to involve Mitch Marner either, but the Leafs need to make this a top priority.
Step Three: Chill
The summer is where teams make the biggest mistakes.
The trade deadline almost always has star players on expiring contracts on bad teams being traded. At worst, other teams are out of it and will at least listen. The trade deadline always has bargains, the summer always has suckers.
The Leafs need to relax, They need to let their prospects compete for jobs from September through February and then filli in the missing pieces by adding a star or two at the trade deadline.
This doesn't mean they shouldn't make a trade or two, or sign a free-agent if there is a good deal to be had, it just means they don't have to set their lineup in August and block out their young players from having a chance to shine.
Step Four: Zach Werenski
The Leafs aren't going to just automatically find a number-one defender.
In order to get one, they will have to take a risk on someone with that potential who maybe isn't living up to it.
Werenski makes over $9 million per year and hasn't had a full season without an injury since 2018-19.
While that sucks, it's also what might make him available. The Blue Jackets have no hope of contending over the four years until his contract runs out, aren't a particularly rich team, and probably could be persueded to get out of the deal fairly cheaply.
If the Leafs took on most of this contract, the player might be fairly cheap to acquire.
If that is the case, it's going to be hard to find a player with higher potential who is closer to being the Number-One Defender the Leafs need.
Werenski has had a rough go of it lately, but he's an elite talent with Hall of Fame level skill. He is the type of buy-low candidate teams should always be searching for.
He also has a no-trade clause, but I doubt it would be hard to talk him into waiving it to play with Auston Matthews.
Step Five: Clear the Decks
The final step to my off-season plan is to clear the decks.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have too many expensive players who don't live up to their contracts.
No, I'm not talking about their stars. I'm talking about their non-stars who barely contribute any more than a random replacement player would.
Calle Jarnkrok is getting up there. He has been a useful addition, but it is time to give his roster spot to a younger, cheaper, more hungry player.
David Kampf is the NHL's most expensive fourth liner. He needs to go.
Ryan Reaves and Conor Timmins do not have a future in Toronto and need to go.
Incredibly, moving out all four will save the Leafs $6.95 Million. That's enough to pay 80% of Zach Werenski's contract.
The best part? Losing all four wouldn't even make the Leafs worse. These players are not worth their combined cap space.
Step Six: Re-Sign the RFAs
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to lock up Nick Robertson and Timothy Liljegren to team-friendly contract extensions.
Both players are far more valuable to the Leafs than they are in a trade, and both should provide a lot of value on their next contracts.
That is it. To recap: Relax during the free-agent frenzy, don't trade Marner, do trade for Saros and Werenski, re-sign Robertson and Liljegren, re-sign Domi and Bertuzzi if cheap enough and clear out the team's four stupid contracts.
manual
It couldn't be easier!