Report from another insider names 3 Leafs who are expected to hit free agency
Now that the off-season has officially begun for every NHL team, it's going to be a jam-packed couple of weeks leading into the NHL Entry Draft and then finishing off with the first few days of the free agency.
The buy-out window is now open and is going to run until the 30th of the June. The NHL Entry Draft is set to kick off on the 28th with rounds 2-7 taking place on the 29th. All of that culminating into the free agent madness on the 1st of July before the doldrums of summer eventually hit.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, it will be the first summer in quite some time where they will have ample amount of salary to work with, however they have far too many holes to fill and need to keep an eye on the future with Auston Matthews and/or William Nylander.
As for their upcoming UFAs, it has been reported by Frank Seravalli already that Ryan O'Reilly and Michael Bunting won't be returning to Toronto. Chris Johnston has now doubled down and added that Alex Kerfoot, Justin Holl - on top of Bunting - won't be returning either. Johnston made no mention of O'Reilly.
As of right now, the Maple Leafs have $9.143 million in cap space and that number will jump once Jake Muzzin is placed on the LTIR - an additional $5.625 million - and whatever they end up doing with Matt Murray and his $4.68M cap hit, whether it comes down to a trade or a buy-out.
Kerfoot arrived to Toronto in the Nazem Kadri trade and has been inconsistent at best. He scored a career-high 51 points in 2021-22 but sandwiched in between are seasons with 28, 23, and 32 points. While he was brought in to help in the top 6, he ended up becoming a bottom-6 player that was kept around due to Sheldon Keefe's insistence.
As for Bunting, his antics near the end of the season truly cost him his time in Toronto. The referees targeting him, his unnecessary penalties, and then the suspension in the playoffs all culminated in the Leafs realizing he's not worth the $4.5M-$5M long-term contract he will be getting on the open market. He scored 46 goals and 112 points in 2 seasons with the Leafs but couldn't find any consistency in his contract year.
Justin Holl comes as no surprise as the roller coaster of a tenure finally comes to an end. He became the proverbial whipping boy of the defense and the team but rightfully so. His role on the club was mystifying at best as Keefe rolled him out as a top-pair defender, when at best he was a bottom-pair defenseman. His turnovers, horrible positioning, and mid-level hockey IQ will not be missed.
The Leafs have quite a few vacancies in the lineup that they will need to shore up during the off-season. Brad Treliving's first year with the club comes at a very pivotal juncture of their modern era as he needs to find players to complement the core members, who are also due for new contracts in the not-so-distant future.
At the very least, he's already doing some good work by not bringing back some troubled and/or middling veterans.
