All quiet in Toronto with just days remaining until the draft and free agency, which is causing a great deal of concern
I honestly can't recall a lead up to the draft and free agency for the Leafs that has been more quiet than what we're currently enduring. With Toronto being the hockey mecca, rumours have long been running rampant in and around the city at this time of the year, with the team being linked to a number of free agents and connected to a number of other teams in the trade market. However, since the Leafs hired veteran GM Brad Treliving to replace Kyle Dubas, we have barely heard a peep.
Some within the fanbase are concerned that the lack of chatter coming out of Toronto means that Treliving may be facing great difficulty in pulling something off before the draft. Some also believe that perhaps Treliving has already signed a number of eligible players and is taking a page out of the Lou Lamoriello handbook and not announcing them until free agency opens up to help disguise what the Leafs' plans are. There is another option here though - and not one that might sit particularly well with the fanbase. There's a chance that Treliving and the Leafs are planning to see all of their UFAs walking away and bringing in a new crop of free agents to plug the holes left with their departure.
The Leafs have 13 UFAs and 7 RFAs due for new contracts this summer. There's a strong possibility that most or all of the RFAs, aside from Ilya Samsonov, simply take their qualifying offers. As for the UFAs, we're likely to see Alexander Kerfoot, Justin Holl, Zach Aston-Reese, Erik Gustafsson, Wayne Simmonds, David Kampf Jordie Benn, Erik Kallgren, Radim Zahorna and Michael Bunting depart via free agency. With Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari and Luke Schenn, I'm sure the Leafs are hoping they can extend all 3, but there's a chance that all 3 sign elsewhere as well, which would mean full UFA turnover.
I'm sure Treliving and the Leafs know what they're doing, but the main concern here is that this year's UFA class is not exactly bursting at the seams with talent. It's among one of the weaker UFA classes we've seen in recent years, which means that if the Leafs are looking at total UFA turnover, they stand a pretty good chance of coming out of free agency worse than what they were heading in with. Unless, of course, the team is planning to address most of its needs through the trade market.
We are now just 3 days away from the draft and 6 days away from free agency, so I'm sure we'll have some answers sooner than later, but the hope here from Leafs Nation is that Brad Treliving has a plan and knows what he's doing. There's a lot riding on the moves he makes this summer. If Auston Matthews and William Nylander don't sign on July 1st and opt to wait to see what types of moves Treliving makes before committing to signing new deals, then a lackluster summer may cost the Leafs more than just their departing UFA crop. It may cost them the remaining years of their contention window, because with Matthews' NMC kicking in on July 1st, he'll hold all the cards.
