Toronto Maple Leafs Should Re-Sign These 5 Free Agents

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have many free agents this off-season. Including Jake Muzzin, who has retired but is still on long-term injury reserve (LTIR), the Leafs have 11 unrestricted free agents (UFA) and five restricted free agents (RFA).

With a little over $20 million in estimated available salary cap space, the Toronto Maple Leafs can't re-sign everyone.

The Leafs have some free agents worth keeping if the price is right. Some will get replaced with cheaper free-agent options or players joining the main roster from the Toronto Marlies or junior leagues.

In the salary cap era, a quarter of an NHL roster need to earn around the league minimum. Although some players are worth more than that, some teams can't afford to do it. As the salary cap goes up, this gets a little easier, but when the cap goes up, so do many of the player's asking prices. It is a vicious circle.

Next season, the Leafs have three players making under $1 million, not including any rookies who might crack the lieup: Matthew Knies, Pontus Holmberg, and Joseph Woll have one year left on their current deals.

Each player will likely get more than $1 million on their next deal, so the Leafs need to think about adding cheaper options to their roster. Some of those options could be Fraser Minten ($845,833), Topi Niemela ($856,667), Nick Abruzzese ($775,000), or newly acquired NCAA prospect Cade Webber, who likely will sign with the Leafs after having his rights traded to them by the Carolina Hurricanes at the NHL trade deadline.

As for the players who will make more than $1 million that the Leafs should re-sign, here is my list.