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.

Simon Benoit

Editor's Note: While this article was scheduled to be published, the Leafs signed Benoit to a contract extension.

Simon Benoit will become an RFA in the off-season. He has proven over and over again that he deserves to be an NHL regular.

Although Benoit did not make the Leafs roster out of training camp, he did his time in the AHL with the Marlies and waited for his opportunity. Due to injuries on the Leafs defense, Benoit's opportunity came, and he seized it.

Benoit does not play a flashy game and won't register many points. The 6'3, 205 Lbs Benoit likes to hit. He has one goal and three assists for four points in 53 games.

While averaging 16:52 minutes of ice time, Benoit has amassed 79 blocked shots and 200 hits. Compared to previous seasons, his takeaway/giveaway ratio has improved as well. He could be a key component to the Leafs playoff success.

Benoit is making the league minimum of $775,000 this season. He becomes an RFA in the off-season, so the Leafs still own his contractual rights.

I don't see the Leafs having too much trouble re-signing Benoit. He plays the style that Treliving likes, and Benoit appears to enjoy playing for the Leafs. A 2-3 year deal worth between $900,000 and $1.25 million seems realistic for Benoit at this point.

He has never played in the NHL playoffs before, so we will see how he handles it, but I think Benoit is built for playoff hockey. Benoit, along with Ilya Lyubushkin, Jake McCabe, and Joel Edmundson, give the Leafs a much more physical defense than they've had in years past. Hopefully, it helps get the job done.

Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson has only played in seven games for the Leafs since being acquired at the NHL trade deadline.

However, he is averaging 17:44 minutes of ice time. He has no points yet with the Leafs, but it's not expected of him anyway.

Edmundson is posting some ugly numbers and the Leafs currently have a 98% save percentage when he's on the ice, but they are winning his minutes 6-1. He has 11 blocked shots and 14 hits. He is averaging two hits a game, which is a key part of his game and why Treliving traded for him.

Edmundson's Leafs teammate Max Domi said he can't wait to see Edmundson in the playoffs. To be honest, neither can I. His size (6'5, 221 Lbs.) and physical play are a welcomed addition to the Leafs roster.

Let's hope his large frame will do some damage to the Florida Panthers or Boston Bruins in round one of the playoffs. If all goes well, I don't see why the Leafs wouldn't try to re-sign him in the off-season. It never hurts to have a player Edmundson's size patrolling your blueline.

The Leafs needed Edmundson's contract to be retained to get him within their limited cap space. His current contract is $3.5 million, so the Leafs would need to offer more than that to get him to re-sign. I would predict a new deal with an AAV between $4.5 million - $5 million on a four-year deal. I think the Leafs could manage to do a deal like this, but I wouldn't want to see them sign him for more than $5 million.

Tyler Bertuzzi

Tyler Bertuzzi's season started slow but has been much better in the second half. He has 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points in 69 games. There's still enough time for him to reach 20 goals and 40+ points by the end of the regular season.

Those are not quite the numbers the Leafs were hoping for, but they are in line with his average stats from his time with the Detroit Red Wings.

In the three seasons where he played more than 60 games for the Red Wings, Bertuzzi had 47 points (2018-19), 48 points (2019-20), and 62 points (2021-22).

He then recorded 30 points in 50 games last season, split between the Red Wings and Bruins. I'm sure many Leafs fans were hoping for the 62 points Bertuzzi, but the reality is, he is a 40-50 point player, and that's what we got.

Bertuzzi has only been to the playoffs once in his career, and it was last season with the Bruins. He recorded five goals and five assists for ten points in seven playoff games.

Had the Bruins made it out of the first round, it would have been interesting to see if that points pace continued. Now that he's with the Leafs, let's hope he produces similar numbers in this year's playoffs.

As for re-signing Bertuzzi, I would only want the Leafs to do it if the price is right. Before signing a one-year deal with the Leafs, it was reported that he was seeking a multi-year deal worth $7 million a season. I don't see the Leafs re-signing him for that much, but it could depend on how well he performs in the playoffs. I'd like the Leafs to try and sign him to a 3-4 year deal for about the same salary he's making this season ($5.5 million)

Timothy Liljegren

Timothy Liljegren has his share of haters, but for the most part, the fan frustrations with Liljegren stem from his 37 giveaways.

There's a lot to like about Liljegren, but he needs to clean up his turnovers. He has three goals and 20 assists for 23 points in 52 games.

Liljegren is averaging 19:40 minutes of ice time and has 115 blocked shots and 81 hits. Overall, his stats are very good for a 24-year-old.

He also seems to have earned the coaches trust and has been one of the Leafs most played defenseman in recent games.

Liljegren has posted great third pairing numbers and now appears to be transitioning into an effective top-four defenseman for the Leafs. He is soft in his own zone and has issues with big-bodied forwards, but he's also one of the only above average puck-movers on the Leafs current blue-line.

As for re-signing him, Liljegren is a pending RFA, so the Leafs control his contractual rights. He is making $1.4 million a season on his current deal. Since his new deal would be entering into UFA years (2026) for Liljegren, the Leafs might need to pay more if they want him to sign long-term.

A new contract worth $2.5 million - $3 million for 4-5 years is a possibility and could give the Leafs a really valuable team-friendly contract.

Overall, the Leafs have a lot of work to do this summer, and a lot will depend on how things go this spring, but locking in some of their support players and curbing the annual turnover would be a great thing for this team.