Leafs trade winger to open up some cap space and a roster spot

Lafferty quickly became a player that went from having what many deemed to be a guaranteed roster spot on the Leafs to finding himself on the bubble, thanks to the superb camps from the likes of Fraser Minten and Noah Gregor.

Following last night's game in Detroit, Lafferty was asked about having to wait on roster decisions and said, "It's out of my hands at this point so I'm just going to spend some time with family and not really think about it too much." Now, less than 17 hours later, he finds himself traded to Vancouver.

The one silver-lining here is that Lafferty at least knows where he's going, avoiding waivers, and won't have to wait until 2pm tomorrow to find out who will claim him. Lafferty was a cap casualty as his $1.15M salary being moved has allowed the Leafs to create a little more flexibility as they look to finalize their roster.