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Market value near guarantees van Riemsdyk’s departure from Leafs

July 18, 2017, 4:57 PM ET [150 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs were able to address some of their needs in the early days of free agency, re-signing Curtis McElhinney and adding center Dominic Moore and defenseman Ron Hainsey to replace the departed Brian Boyle and Matt Hunwick.

The signing of Patrick Marleau to a three-year deal was only impactful move made by Lou Lamoriello and while it gives the Leafs options between now and the NHL Trade Deadline, it has not addressed their major need of a difference maker on defense.

Marleau was undoubtedly added with the full endorsement of Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, but his signing all but guarantees that James van Riemsdyk will not be a Leaf after next season.

There has not been any indication coming from the Leafs or van Riemsdyk’s camp of a contract extension for the big left winger and based on the free agent deals over the last two summers, Toronto will not be able to meet his expected asking price.

Contracts for wingers in the general age range and ability of van Riemsdyk (Alex Steen, Loui Eriksson, Kyle Okposo, Brad Marchand and David Backes) ranged from $5.75 Million to $6.125 Million prior to the start of the 2016-17 season.

30-year-olds TJ Oshie and Alexander Radulov were locked up this summer on multi-year deals for around the same price.

Other than Buffalo’s Evander Kane and Cam Atkinson, van Riemsdyk could be the most coveted winger in the 2018 free agent class with three 25+ goal seasons on his resume and next summer could be the last opportunity for him to get a big payday and long-term security.

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If he follows that up with another comparable season, van Riemsdyk will surely be able to command over $6 Million AAV on a multi-year deal.

Toronto will be unable to sign van Riemsdyk to a fair market value deal without using up cap space likely being reserved for new deals for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

That means the Leafs will make a move involving the winger (either during the summer, after training camp when teams have evaluated what they have or at the trade deadline), keep him throughout the season and let him walk next July.

Clubs like the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes still have a need for scoring and may have interest in van Riemsdyk, but teams have already begun exploring options like training camp invites in hopes of finding some offense for a low cost.

Lamoriello indicated last week that the Leafs were satisfied with the current state of their blueline, but the fact that van Riemsdyk was reportedly included in an offer for Travis Hamonic (which New York turned down) may be an indicator that Toronto misjudged how much trade value the winger had, or more likely that they underestimated how the prices have escalated on blueliners.

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