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What will the Leafs do to address their needs before the deadline?

January 17, 2022, 2:12 PM ET [417 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are among a number of clubs who are serious contenders for the Stanley Cup but do not have a lot of room under the league’s salary cap to add a player or two prior to the NHL trade deadline.

GM Kyle Dubas and AGM/capologist Brandon Pridham will be working extra hard over the next two months to a) move players on their roster to open up cap space, b) find players on other teams making a low salary, c) find teams that would be willing to retain salary in a trade on a short-term rental, d) finds teams willing to act as a third team in a deal, or e) find ways to think outside the box to create cap space to make a deal possible.



The question that the Leafs hierarchy can determine well before March 21 is who on their existing roster is expendable to facilitate the moves they need to make. The club’s core group (Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, TJ Brodie, Jack Campbell) will remain intact, as will key support players like Alex Kerfoot, David Kampf, Ondrej Kase, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza, and Michael Bunting.

In spite of the fact that the probable target area for a trade is on the blueline, Dubas will likely not be moving out Justin Holl at $2 million AAV or Travis Dermott at $1.5 million AAV (signed through next year) or trade youngsters Rasmus Sandin or Timothy Liljegren before the summer to maintain the club’s defensive depth going into the postseason.

The move signaled earlier this month that could be forthcoming involves forward Nick Ritchie. The big winger has a $2.5 million AAV, is signed through next season, and was placed and cleared waivers on January 7. If the Leafs send him down to the American Hockey League, they would clear nearly half ($1.125 million) of Ritchie’s salary, but the room needed to add a top-four defenseman would make it necessary to trade him and clear the whole $2.5 million cap hit.

While some teams might be willing to take on Ritchie (say for example Arizona or Buffalo, with nearly have their roster on expiring contracts), it would likely cost Toronto a draft pick or prospect to make that happen.

Over the next couple of days, as the Leafs wait to continue their long road trip in New York, we will take a look at a group of rental or inexpensive forwards and defensemen that Dubas could be looking at.


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Toronto Marlies defenceman Filip Král has been selected as the AHL Player of the Week for the period ending January 16. The 22-year-old blueliner had two goals and four assists in Toronto’s four games last week, including his first goal of the season on January 12 and three assists against Springfield on January 10 in the first period. Král has 14 points (2 goals, 12 assists) in 27 games with the Marlies this season.







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