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One of the biggest question marks facing the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer will be what will be done with goalie Petr Mrazek, following a disastrous debut season. The 30-year-old netminder performed inconsistently with Toronto after signing a three-year, $11.4 million contract (12-6-0, 3.34 GAA, .888 save percentage), seeing time on the injured list three times before suffering a season-ending groin injury in late March.
Mrazek’s deal is backloaded, with the salary in the final two years ($4.2 million and $4.4 million) exceeding the $3.8 million cap hit in 2023 and 2024. This fact might hinder GM Kyle Dubas’ ability to deal him to another club this offseason, in spite of their being a dearth of quality goaltending.
One option the Leafs could explore is buying out the final two years of Mrazek’s deal. Per Cap Friendly, a buyout would result in a $1.033 million cap hit in 2022-23, $833,333 cap hit in 2023-24, and $1.433 million cap hits in 2024-25, and 2025-26. If Toronto wanted to shorten the cap ramifications on this deal, they could be willing to retain salary equal to the buyout amount in a trade for the remaining two years (avoiding the hit being spread out over four seasons) or take a salary back in a deal.
This course might be necessary if the Leafs are looking to extend pending UFA Jack Campbell on a long-term extension, but there continue to be questions about how far Toronto is willing to go with the term and AAV on a new Campbell deal.
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Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins was announced as the winner of the Selke Trophy for the 2021-22 season. Bergeron received 160 of the 195 first-place votes and passes Bob Gainey with his fifth career Selke.
Leafs center Auston Matthews finished 10th in Selke voting with 70 points, winger Mitch Marner finished 16th with 24 points, and center David Kampf tied for 27th with three points.
Selke Trophy voting results: pic.twitter.com/zAop7F5myU
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 5, 2022
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