Leafs not expected to qualify Kase; not ruling out return to Toronto
Teams have until 5pm today to issue qualifying offers to RFAs and if they don't, those players become UFAs on Wednesday. The Hawks have made noise already, electing not to qualifying Dylan Strome or Dominik Kubalik and now, it appears the Leafs will make Ondrej Kase a UFA as well.
According to Frank Seravalli, the Leafs will not issue a qualifying offer to Ondrej Kase of $1.25M, likely due to the fact Kase has arbitration rights and could receive a hefty raise through the arbitration process. Should Kase be rewarded with anything north of $2M by an arbitrator, it could hinder the Leafs in their free agency plans. That doesn't mean he won't return to Toronto, but it guarantees the Leafs they won't be overpaying him.
Kase only skated in 50 games last season and while he was effective as an energy guy, he was hampered by injuries. Most notably were the concussions he suffered and given the fact that he has a history of concussions, the Leafs couldn't risk tying up that much salary in a player that has a significant chance of not playing the entire season. The Leafs may, however, attempt to strike a deal with Kase to return next season without the threat of arbitration looming.
Also according to Seravalli, the Leafs will be qualifying RFA Pierre Engvall by the deadline. Engvall also has arbitration rights, but given his history with the organization, a deal will likely be worked out, or Engvall will accept his qualifying offer and walk into free agency next season looking to cash in.
With a number of high profile RFAs not being issued qualifying offers, the Leafs could be preparing to make a few moves and bring in some more skilled forwards on cheap deals the same way they did with Kase, David Kampf and Michael Bunting last season.
