The Toronto Maple Leafs are just days away from seeing both Connor Dewar and Jani Hakanpää return to their NHL roster as the two, who are on conditioning stints with the AHL Marlies play two more games this weekend.
Once those games are complete and there are no setbacks both will be rejoining their Toronto Maple Leafs who are currently at the maximum 23-man roster.
General Manager Brad Treliving did gain some salary cap relief last week when he traded Timothy Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks for Matt Benning, but that does not solve all the clubs roster issues.
With both Dewar and Hakanpää slated to be on the roster, Treliving will have to move out a couple players. The most simplest solution to this would be to place newly acquired Benning and Philippe Myers on waivers with the intent to get them cleared and on the Marlies. Myers would likely go unclaimed, while there could be a team that would like to take a chance on Benning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be forced to make a move shortly
It is unclear when Calle Järnkrok returns, but he would add another wrinkle into the equation as the team needs to move another player once he returns so the question is who is or should Treliving be shopping?
Nicholas Robertson
The 23-year old Nicholas Robertson was surrounded by rumours this past summer after making a request to be traded while he was without a contract. However, after signing a contract he attended camp and led the team in goals during the preseason. Since the puck dropped to start the season, Robertson has only one goal and has been a healthy scratch, but he has also played very well at times and has excellent on-ice stats. The Leafs are winning Robertson's minutes, he has a positive expected goals percentage, and are getting nearly 55% puck-possession.
Robertson is more suited to play with someone who is feeding him the puck and has not had that opportunity since the regular season started. Adam Proteau of the Hockey News suggested a change and the Colorado Avalanche but that is ridiculous. Robertson has almost no trade value and doesn't even have a cap hit that would save the Leafs any money if he were traded. There really is no downside to keeping him and seeing if he figures it out, and very little to be gained by moving him.
Whether he scores from the third line or pushes another scoring winger lower in the lineup, a successful Nick Robertson is the Leafs easiest and most likely path to sustainable depth scoring.
Other Moves
The Czech born David Kämpf makes a lot of sense to be traded due to his $2.4 Million cap hit as a fourth line center. Kämpf hasn't been bad and if he was making a million dollars he would probably be a fan favourite, but with no goals and just two assists it is hard to justify that type of cap hit.
Calle Jarnkrok has a $2.1 million cap-hit and is superfluous on this roster. He could concievably take Nick Robertson or Bobby McMann's job, but that only makes the Leafs already problematic depth scoring worse.
Ryan Reaves is always an option to be cut due to him being not being an NHL quality player. He makes over $1 million and would clear up a bit of cap space and a roster spot.
Max Domi makes $3.75 and has zero goals, six points in 15 games and an expected goals rating under 50%. If he doesn't start doing something he would be both easy to trade and represent big cap savings.
Finally, there is always the chance of an unexpected block-buster. Especially since the Leafs aren't ready for the playoffs with only two top-nine NHL centres on the roster. They clearly need to get better in certain areas and so even though the most likely move is a minor one to clear cap space and a roster spot, a bigger move is likely on the horizen.