Leafs still need a top-6 F and the UFA market is looking pretty thin; thankfully, there are options in the trade market
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has made some pretty shrewd, under the radar moves so far this offseason. If you want to consider Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov gambles, that's fine - but given what was available to the Leafs and the fact that running it back with Campbell and Mrazek simply was not an option, I personally think Dubas did pretty well to secure two solid bets to bounce back this season behind a very good Leafs team.
After the goaltending situation was addressed, Dubas turned his attention to the forward group, adding Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Adam Gaudette and Calle Jarnkrok to the fold and bolstered the defensive group with low-risk adds in veteran Jordie Benn and 24-year-old Victor Mete. Benn and Mete are likely depth adds who we might only see if the injury bug bites, but all of Aube-Kubel, Gaudette and Jarnkrok are expected to play next season. Among the things they all have in common - they're all hard on the forecheck, they all possess good defensive instincts and they can all chip in offensively as well.
The one hole that still exists for the Leafs is at the 2nd line left wing position. Last season, the Leafs seemed intent on trying to force Alexander Kerfoot into that spot, but by the end of the season, when the chemistry still was not there, Sheldon Keefe began moving bodies around, trying Nylander on line 3, shifting Mikheyev up to line 2 and even trying out Ondrej Kase on the second line when he was healthy enough to play. It was clear that something didn't fit - and unless Kyle Dubas plans to trade Tavares or Nylander, it would appear as though Kerfoot is the odd man out. The possibility still remains, however, that the Leafs may simply want to retain Kerfoot as a middle six option who is capable of moving up in the event of an injury, but most pundits seem to agree that Kerfoot's days are numbered in Toronto.
The Leafs currently have just $750K in available cap space, which can become $4.25M by trading Kerfoot. In addition, Kyle Dubas stated during his presser on day one of free agency that the plan was to have Rasmus Sandin play the left side next season. If we're reading between the lines there, it would appear as though he's currently looking for a new home for Jake Muzzin. We arrive at this assumption due to the process of elimination. Rielly just signed a massive extension and has a no-move clause, and Giordano just signed for 2 years at just $800K per season. Muzzin and his $5.625M for two more seasons gives the Leafs the most cap flexibility and he's also spent a significant amount of time on the IR over the last few seasons.
The issue there is that Muzzin has a no-trade clause that doesn't revert to a modified NTC until next summer - so he'd have to approve a trade, unless the Leafs do the same thing to Muzzin that the Lightning did to Ryan McDonagh and waive him and work out a deal with another club to entice them to pick him up from waivers to force him to waive his NTC. I don't think Kyle Dubas is that sort of GM. I think he'll have a conversation with Muzzin and explain the situation and just hope that Muzzin will be reasonable and agree to waive to go to a preferred destination. Either way, the writing looks like it's already on the wall for Muzz.
If the Leafs don't retain anything on Muzzin in order to move him, those two moves will give them a total of $9.875M with which to find a legit top six winger and work out contract extensions for both Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall.
Some potential options, just from a quick look on CapFriendly, could be Oliver Bjorkstrand in Columbus, Travis Konecny in Philadelphia, J.T. Miller in Vancouver and Timo Meier in San Jose.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW/LW - CBJ (28G, 29A=57P in 80 GP)
The Blue Jackets just made an enormous splash in free agency, acquiring the belle of the ball, Johnny Gaudreau. The problem is, the Gaudreau deal put the Jackets right up against the salary cap, with Patrik Laine and Emil Bemstrom still needing contracts. With the Jackets just having $2.34M in available space, freeing up Bjorkstrand's $5.4M for 4 more seasons could make some sense.
Travis Konecny, RW/LW - PHI (16G, 36A=52P in 79GP)
The Flyers are currently over the $82.5M salary cap and they have yet to re-sign RFA's Zack MacEwen and Owen Tippett. The Flyers are on the hook with Konecny for 3 more seasons at $5.5M per season and are potentially staring down the barrel of a full rebuild. Konecny, a London, ON native, could provide the Leafs with a little extra piss and vinegar in the lineup, which could certainly come in handy come playoff time.
J.T. Miller, LW/C - VAN (32G, 67A=99P in 80GP)
Miller and the Canucks just seem destined for a split. The two sides have been hammering away on a new deal since Miller became eligible to sign an extension last summer. Recent reports have had the two sides still far apart and the trade rumours have been going on since the middle of last season. The Canucks are currently over the salary cap by $2.75M and will need to free up some salary to become cap compliant. Miller makes the most sense to move, as the Canucks are not going to want to risk a significant injury before the deadline, either tanking Miller's value or making him downright untradable - especially when he'll be able to walk as a UFA next summer.
Timo Meier, LW/RW - SJS (35G, 41A=76P in 77GP)
Alright - Meier is admittedly a long shot. The 25-year-old is coming off of a career year and is entering the final year of his current deal, which carries a $6M cap hit. The Sharks currently have about $6.8M in available cap space, but have seven RFAs in need of new deals (Chmelevski, Gadjovich, Gregor, Kunin, Lorentz, Ferraro, Kahkonen). Since only the last 4 are likely to be regular NHLers next season, the Sharks will have no problems accommodating them and still remaining under the cap. They also have retained salary on Brent Burns, a buyout penalty on Martin Jones and a small one on Rudolfs Balcers as well.
If the Sharks aren't intending to be a playoff contender this season, they may entertain the idea of moving out Meier's contract and recouping some assets before he comes due for a hefty raise, likely in excess of the deal recently signed by Tomas Hertl (8 years, $65.1M, an $8.137M AAV).
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It's also worth noting that the free agent market still has Nazem Kadri and Nino Niederreiter available, should the price on either come down enough to peak the interest of the Leafs. Given Kadri's comments after he won the Cup, I don't think there's any love lost there for Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan, so I'd imagine that Niederreiter would be the only remaining option in the UFA market that might intrigue Kyle Dubas, if he hasn't already had talks with Niederreiter and decided to go a different way.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 16 | 641 ANSWERS Leafs still need a top-6 F and the UFA market is looking pretty thin; thankfully, there are options in the trade market Of these 4 names, who would you be most interested in as a top 6 LW option in Toronto? | ||
| Oliver Bjorkstrand | 49 | 7.6 % |
| Travis Konecny | 126 | 19.7 % |
| J.T. Miller | 383 | 59.8 % |
| Timo Meier | 83 | 12.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
