Insider provides insight on what the Leafs are currently working on
The Leafs are in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, currently sitting $8.8M over the salary cap ($3.2M over with Jake Muzzin's contract on LTIR). After adding Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg and Ryan Reaves, the Leafs still have to get a deal done for restricted free agent goaltender Ilya Samsonov, so we know that there are more moves coming.
During an appearance on the NHL Network, Elliotte Friedman spoke about what we can expect from the Leafs as we move along throughout the summer. It's quite possible that they're done in terms of free agents, but they have been working the phones behind the scenes to scour the trade market for both options to clear some cap space and for defensemen to upgrade their blueline.
This checks out with what Leafs GM Brad Treliving indicated earlier this week, which is that he does intend to make an adjustment or two on the blueline. We also don't yet know the fate of William Nylander, who is believed to want in excess of $10M on his next deal. Reports from several insiders had indicated that if the Leafs and Nylander didn't have a smooth negotiation process, the Leafs would likely look to move on, so that remains a pretty big storyline to follow.
In terms of blueliners that fit the bill for what Friedman believes the Leafs are looking for, Nikita Zadorov certainly checks a lot of those boxes. The Flames defenseman is rumoured to be on the block and, of course, Treliving would be very familiar with him.
The Leafs currently have 7 NHL defensemen on the roster in Morgan Rielly, T.J. Brodie, Jake McCabe, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano, Timothy Liljegren and Conor Timmins. It's very likely that someone from this list is moved to accommodate someone bigger and nastier coming in. We can probably rule out Morgan Rielly, who has a full NMC, and John Klingberg, who was just signed. McCabe also seems unlikely to move, given his value and term versus some of the other options. So that leaves Brodie, Giordano, Liljegren and Timmins as possible assets to move.
