The last 48 hours have been somewhat quiet in Toronto as the Leafs' front office works behind the scenes to put the finishing touches on the 2022-23 roster, but we do have some news to announces regarding one of the Buds' restricted free agents.
Per PuckPedia, it is believed that utility forward Pierre Engvall will be going to be filing for salary arbitration, which could end up being a disaster for the Leafs. Then again, if they can build a good enough case, it could just as easily end up being the desired result.
Engvall put together a pretty solid season for the Buds in 2021-22, putting up 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points in 78 games in what was essentially his first full season. The 26-year-old held a cap hit of $1.25M in each of the last two seasons and will undoubtedly be looking for a salary bump, even if his role with the team remains similar to what it was last season.
It's worth noting that just because Engvall files for salary arbitration, it doesn't necessarily mean that the two sides will actually go to arbitration. In the vast majority of cases, a deal is worked out before the arbitration date.
I'd imagine that the Leafs are looking to keep Engvall's AAV below $2M and that Engvall would like to see his salary bumped up above that $2M threshold. As for their other RFA piece, Rasmus Sandin, he is not yet eligible for arbitration, so crisis averted there. He does, however, still have the ability to sign an offer sheet, should he so desire, but we see even less of those than we see players and teams go all the way to their salary arbitration hearings.
Nevertheless, this will be a situation to keep a close eye on, because the Leafs don't have the option to walk away from any deal below the $4.5M threshold.
