NHL Insider reveals who the Leafs are working on new deals for and which players are headed to free agency
The week of the draft and free agency is finally upon us and with that will come a great deal of rumours and speculation as to what will happen with the Leafs and their two biggest priorities in Auston Matthews and William Nylander on July 1st. Beyond that, there is still a sea of pending UFAs and RFAs that the Leafs will have to make decisions on.
During an appearance on Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill on Monday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman provided updates on some of the Leafs' key UFAs and where the team is at in terms of who we can expect to stay and who we can expect to go.
Per Friedman, the Leafs remain focused on 3 players whom they'd really like to bring back in Luke Schenn, Noel Acciari and Ryan O'Reilly. Friedman stated during his appearance on the popular podcast that the Leafs remain engaged in talks with all 3 players in hopes of getting something done. He also mentioned that, as far as RFAs go, it sounds like the Leafs and Ilya Samsonov will get something done, but they aren't keen on going longer-term for him, so if they do bring Samsonov back, it will likely be a shorter-term deal.
Aside from those 4 names, Friedman did also mention that there were a few players who he believes that the Leafs won't bring back, either because they're looking to go in a different direction or because they simply can't afford to bring them back. Of the names that Friedman believes will be gone this summer are Justin Holl, Alexander Kerfoot, Michael Bunting and possibly David Kampf as well.
So all in all, it looks as though there's going to be a great deal of turnover within the organization this summer and we're likely to see a lot of new faces next season or potentially even some graduates from the AHL's Toronto Marlies. These next 5 or 6 days are going to be a lot of fun for hockey fans!
| POLL | ||
JUIN 26 | 375 ANSWERS NHL Insider reveals who the Leafs are working on new deals for and which players are headed to free agency How many of O'Reilly, Acciari, Schenn, Samsonov, Bunting, Kerfoot, Holl and Kampf will be back next season? | ||
| 4 or more will be back | 79 | 21.1 % |
| 2-3 will be back | 262 | 69.9 % |
| 1 will be back | 23 | 6.1 % |
| They're all gone | 11 | 2.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
