At one point, it seemed that buying out the final year of Matt Murray's contract made complete sense. They'd save $4 million this year and would incur $2 million cap penalty next year, but the cap is projected to increase upwards of $4 million. Perhaps they don't want to have any extra money tied up with extensions on the horizon for Auston Matthews and William Nylander, but they now find themselves in a bind.
T.J. Brodie is another name that has been floating around out there this summer. Brodie has one year remaining on his current deal and we know that Brad Treliving has walked away from Brodie once before, sending him to free agency during his time in Calgary.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period mentioned on Wednesday that the Leafs are looking to shed cap and that Brodie could be a name added to the trading block in an attempt to do so. They could also be looking to move Nick Robertson or adding him into a deal as a sweetener to whoever would be brave enough to absorb Murray's final year:
Robertson, the team's former 2nd round pick from the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, has yet to live up to the hype, primarily because of a series of lengthy injury stints. In 31 NHL games across 3 seasons he has 3 goals and 7 points but has 22 goals and 46 points in 51 AHL games in parts of 3 seasons as well.
He's still only 21-yers-old and could help the Leafs save a full $4.6875 million this year if he's used as the sweetener to move Murray.
POLL | ||
JUILLET 5 | 2920 ANSWERS Brad Treliving reportedly shopping trio of Leafs Would you move Nick Robertson if it meant getting rid of Murray's entire $4.68M cap hit? | ||
In a heartbeat | 1702 | 58.3 % |
No, he's too valuable | 346 | 11.8 % |
It would depend on the return | 872 | 29.9 % |
List of polls |