POLLS     NHL     SEARCH

Leafs linked to 2 UFA forwards as day one of free agency winds down

PUBLICATION
Mike Armenti
July 1, 2023  (10:26 PM)
SHARE THIS STORY

As we approach the end of the first day of free agency, the Leafs were not among the most active teams, but they did get on the board with deals for Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg to address two very important needs for the team; offense from the blueline and size/toughness in the bottom six.

There is still plenty of work to be done in Toronto as we head into day two of free agency and there are at least two UFAs that the Leafs are sniffing around at right now, according to a pair of trusted NHL insiders. Those players are Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, who appeared on the NHL Network on Saturday evening, touched on the fact that the Leafs really didn't seem to go away on the first day of free agency, showing interest in both Bertuzzi and Domi.

"One team that hasn't made a lot of noise today that I think had some interest in Bertuzzi is Toronto. I know they were one of the teams that wanted to talk to him... [Domi] was another guy that Toronto was talking to." - Elliotte Friedman on two of the players the Leafs have a great deal of interest in

While a report from The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta seemed to indicate that a Bertuzzi decision may not be made on Saturday, TSN's Chris Johnston reported late Saturday evening that the Leafs are still poking around at Domi.

It's tough to imagine, this late in the evening, that a Domi deal gets done tonight either, so it's very possible that he's content to wait until tomorrow to begin reassessing some of his options.

The Leafs have limited cap space with which to work right now, unless they deal the last year of Matt Murray's contract ($4.687M) or complete another trade to give themselves a little more financial flexibility. According to CapFriendly, the Leafs currently have a little over $6M in space once Jake Muzzin is placed on LTIR. They still need to re-sign Ilya Samsonov as well.

MAPLELEAFSDAILY.COM
COPYRIGHT @2024 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TERMS  -  POLICIES