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The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their development camp this week with the first of two scrimmages at the Ford Performance Centre on Tuesday, but the club still has some business to attend to before an abbreviated summer hiatus and the start of training camp in September.
With the signing of winger Pierre Engvall, Toronto has only one player left to get under contract in defenseman Rasmus Sandin, but are currently $1.493 million over the $82.5 million salary cap (according to Cap Friendly).
That figure is not wholly accurate, since CF has the Leafs carrying 14 forwards, and it is likely (based on the cap calisthenics that Asst. GM Brandon Pridham has done the past few seasons) that Toronto carries 12 or 13 forwards at most.
Even if that is the case, GM Kyle Dubas has one of three possible options to implement in the next few weeks:
1. Trade Justin Holl – This move is obvious, but is contingent on the Leafs believing they have a viable option of either Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Mark Giordano, or Sandin being able to play their off side next season, and their confidence that Timothy Liljegren can play in the top four on the right side. Holl makes $2 million before becoming a free agent next summer and should be reasonably easy to move with a short-term and reasonable salary for a RHD, but if they are not confident in either one of the stipulations, then they will keep him.
2. Trade Rasmus Sandin – See Option 1. This is a highly unlikely scenario since the Leafs have invested three years of development into the 22-year-old blueliner and believe in his skills as a puck mover. It also would be bad asset management and highly risky for Dubas to deal a young defenseman on the cusp of finding out what he really is unless they are getting back another player of similar age to address another area of need.
3. Trade Alex Kerfoot – Coming off a career-high 51-point campaign, Kerfoot makes $3.5 million in the final year of his four-year deal, but he is only owed his base salary of $750,000 for the season. Even with his versatility, less than half the NHL currently has more than $5 million in available cap space, which could make Kerfoot’s $3.5 million cap hit challenging to move.
The issue at hand is that Toronto does not have a viable replacement for Kerfoot on the left side of the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander unless they believe that Nick Robertson is ready to take that spot or are willing to wait until the end of the NCAA campaign to get prospect Matthew Knies in the mix.
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