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With the Toronto Maple Leafs rookie development camp opening up on Friday, it is a good time to look back at what the Leafs have done over the last few weeks at the NHL Draft and free agency and answer some of your questions from the wonderful world of Twitter.
A – The Leafs will not have any problems being cap compliant once the regular season begins. Currently Toronto is $3.929 Million over the $75 Million salary cap, but during the offseason the salaries of injured forwards Joffrey Lupul and Nathan Horton count against the cap.
After training camp, every team has to get at or below $75 Million and the total of Horton/Lupul’s salary ($10.55 Million) will go to LTIR.
Teams are allowed to go 10% above the cap during the offseason ($7.5 Million), which means that they have slightly over $3.5 Million in cap space to get Connor Brown signed to an extension.
A – The Leafs did not pay over $2 Million for a backup goaltender in free agency, as teams like Colorado, Vancouver, Buffalo and Philadelphia did on July 1 and brought Curtis McElhinney back on a two-year contract extension for $1.7 Million ($850,000 AAV). That extra money was paid out because each of those backups have been starters in the past or proved they could handle the #1 job for a stretch.
Head coach Mike Babcock will rely heavily on starter Frederik Andersen and more than likely, McElhinney will be used in back-to-back situations. The 34-year-old has in the past stepped in as a stopgap starter when Sergei Bobrovsky was injured in Columbus, but it may be asking too much for him to do that this late in his career.
A – Limiting the scope of your question to who is the more likely of James van Riemsdyk or Tyler Bozak to be traded, it is JVR by a wide margin.
The Leafs are not deep enough up the middle to afford the luxury to move Bozak out. Babcock does not want to move Patrick Marleau or William Nylander to center, Dominic Moore is strictly a fourth line/faceoff/penalty killing option and Frederik Gauthier will be out until late fall.
Toronto is deep on the wings and with most of the scoring forward options gone from this free agent class, teams looking for goals may be willing to trade for van Riemsdyk, who scored 29 last season.
A – It does not leave Toronto with a great deal of flexibility. The last time the Leafs were this close to 50 pro contracts before the season, GM Lou Lamoriello pulled off the five-for-one deal with the NY Islanders for Michael Grabner.
Things are different now, since a lot of the pro contracts are prospects drafted in the Shanahan era, but it is very possible that Lamoriello will be willing to make a trade to clear players out.
A – There appears to be nothing holding up a new contract for Connor Brown. The Leafs have the room to sign him to a new deal if they choose to, but it would use up most of their remaining off-season cap space. It is possible that they will want to clear out a salary like Eric Fehr to give themselves a bit more wiggle room or make the trade for a defenseman that most observers think is coming.
As for Marleau and JVR co-existing…..it is possible, but highly unlikely that Lamoriello will keep van Riemsdyk to the end of his contract and let him walk as an unrestricted free agent 12 months from now.
A – I really do not understand the panic of Leafs fans regarding Marleau’s deal. With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on entry-level deals for another two years and $10 Million in extra space courtesy of Horton/Lupul, Lamoriello had the cap flexibility to sign a big free agent.
The third year of Marleau’s deal may be problematic, but this management group has found ways to clear cap space before. Martin is an effective fourth liner who got slightly overpaid as a free agent, but is an integral part of the locker room and a valuable asset to protect the young kids.
Hyman’s deal is also reasonable at $2.25 Million for four years, as Toronto bought unrestricted years on the new contract and Babcock highly values the Toronto native’s work ethic.
A – With Rielly’s offensive instincts and skating ability, I believe he could reach 50 – 55 points, but that would depend on him getting power play time, which he has not been getting on a regular basis since Babcock took over as head coach.
Barring a miraculous performance at training camp, Liljegren will go back to Sweden in the fall to play in the SHL and World Junior. The earliest he would play in the NHL is next fall, but the Leafs are not likely to rush a defenseman before he has had at least some experience on North American ice.
Best guess, 2019 for Liljegren.
A – All three have value, but the excess of young wingers and the signing of Marleau makes van Riemsdyk a long shot to return. Toronto may have plans to move Nylander to the middle, which could make Bozak expendable, but it is not out of the question that the 32-year-old could be re-signed if his salary demands were reasonable.
Komarov is a glue player and important veteran leader for the young Leafs group and it should not cost a lot to get him re-signed, so he is the most likely of the three to be on the roster a year from now.
A – Highly doubtful. If Toronto were to take a stab at an older veteran, it could be on defense where they are still thin.
A – It is all to do with the contract. Van Riemsdyk is 28 and unrestricted next July. Nylander, Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Brown are either on their entry-level deals or just coming off of it, so they are under control by the Leafs anywhere from four-to-six years.
Toronto does have organizational depth on the left side in 2016 picks Yegor Korshkov and Carl Grundstrom, Marlies winger Andreas Johnsson and KHL import Miro Aaltonen, so moving JVR to address an area of need makes all the sense in the world.
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