Maple Leafs officially lose the rights to two promising young prospects
The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to negotiate entry-level deals for two of their NCAA prospects and have now lost their rights, making both UFAs.
Heading into the summer, reports had previously surfaced about the contract statuses of Mike Koster and Veeti Miettinen, two Maple Leafs prospects who have enjoyed varying levels of success at the NCAA level.
Both Koster and Miettinen were draft picks under the Kyle Dubas reign, with Koster being selected in the 5th round back in 2019, and Miettinen a 6th round pick back in 2020.
Koster was a teammate of current Leafs winger Matthew Knies with the University of Minnesota before Knies signed his ELC with the Leafs at the tail end of the 2022-23, while Miettinen played just down the road at St. Cloud State. As of Thursday, both Koster and Miettinen are now unrestricted free agents.
The Leafs currently sit at 45/50 contracts and have just over $1.275M in remaining cap space. Perhaps the decision not to sign either player was about Brad Treliving keeping his options open. In any case, both Koster and Miettinen now have the ability to sign with any team of their choosing.
Source for salary information: PuckPedia Maple Leafs salary information
| POLL | ||
16 AOUT | 1473 ANSWERS Maple Leafs officially lose the rights to two promising young prospects Do you think the Maple Leafs will end up regretting not giving Koster or Miettinen an entry-level contract? | ||
| Yes | 549 | 37.3 % |
| No | 924 | 62.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
