As the Toronto Maple Leafs head into training camp, there are some question marks up and down their roster.
Will any of the mainstays from the past few seasons remain on the roster throughout the Toronto Maple Leafs season?
Will any of the prospects make the jump to the roster and be a playoff contributor?
Are some of the veterans destined to be shipped out by American Thanksgiving?
Will Timothy Lilejgren be a Toronto Maple Leaf come playoff time?
The organizations 2017 first round pick is coming off a freshly signed two-year deal worth $3 million per season and carries him into unrestricted free agency. The question is whether not he will still be a Maple Leaf come the end of his contract. The team has been waiting for him to jump into the top four, however he has struggled just to stay in the line-up as he has been a healthy scratch for the majority of his missed games.
Currently, Liljegren is behind Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe on the depth chart and depending who you talk to he could find himself behind both Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Simon Benoit, which again brings in question his spot on the roster.
Being a 25-year old right shot defenseman helps his case, but if he can't solidify his spot he may be surpassed by another right handed defenseman named Topi Niemelä who is itching for his opportunity and is coming off a five-point two game rookie tournament performance this past weekend.
Can David Kämpf be unloaded on a different team?
David Kämpf is a very useful player, he is the team's most dependable penalty killer and defensive minded center. However, he saw his average ice-time drop by almost two-minutes per game last year from his previous seasons in Toronto and this was coming in year one of a four year deal he signed just prior to hitting free agency.
There is no doubt he is the top fourth line center option on the team, but you have to believe that Pontus Holmberg or Steven Lorentz could a similar role for a third of the contract. Percentage was, the Czech born center is making double the amount he is worth and the team can free up a lot of cap room by moving him.
Kampf is the NHL's most expensive automatic fourth liner.
Is the Swiss Army Knife Sharp or Dull?
The Toronto Maple Leafs brought Calle Järnkrok is now entering year three of his four year deal paying him an average salary of $2.1 Million. Pretty fair deal when he is thought of as a player that can move up and down the line-up, especially after he scored 20-goals in the first year of the deal.
However, is he quite as useful as some believe? The 11-year veteran puts up between 12-16 goals and 30+ points a year, but unfortunately goes invisible in the playoffs. Over his long serving career, the Swedish born left winger has a combined five goals in 95 playoff games and has just two goals in his last six player series, that is not games, that is series and went pointless this past year against the Boston Bruins.
With the forward group being filled with Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Nicholas Robertson, Max Pacioretty, Bobby McMann, along with prospects Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten, it may be time to move on from Järnkrok and his contract if they can make a fair deal.