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Are the Leafs being priced out on Campbell, Mikheyev??

June 23, 2022, 2:31 PM ET [182 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The direction of the Toronto Maple Leafs off-season will be determined by whether they are successful at retaining some of their unrestricted free agents, but the early signs are that they are only interested in bringing them back at their price.


TSN’s Chris Johnston
reported on Monday that the Leafs continue to have ongoing dialogue with the representatives for goalie Jack Campbell and winger Ilya Mikheyev, but that the club has not done any negotiating with them or exchanged any numbers on potential new contracts.

Campbell is reportedly looking for an AAV north of $5 million on a long-term deal, an amount that Toronto is likely hesitant to commit to with their limited cap space since the 30-year-old goalie has been injured twice in his three seasons with the Leafs and there is some uncertainty of his legitimacy as a #1 goaltender.

The goaltending situation will be item #1 on GM Kyle Dubas’ agenda if the Leafs do not plan on budging on Campbell’s salary demands. Complicating things is the $3.8 million cap hit of Petr Mrazek the next two seasons, but that could rectified by a buyout on or after July 1 or if the veteran netminder cannot play due to the groin injury that had him on injured reserve three times last season.

If they do not bring Campbell back, it is highly probable that Toronto will have two new goalies in the fold, with the potential of signing unrestricted free agents Ville Husso, Marc-Andre Fleury, Darcy Kuemper or trading for Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov, Cam Talbot, or John Gibson.



The chances for retaining Mikheyev appeared questionable ever since he posted a career-high 21 goals in his last season before heading to free agency. Agent Daniel Milstein said that the Leafs have treated the winger very well over his three seasons in Toronto and that he would love to remain a Leaf, but Johnston reports that it would take an offer between $4 to 5 million per season.

Dubas would likely have to clear out the final year of Alex Kerfoot’s deal ($3.5 million) to make room for Mikheyev, but that would only make sense if they believe that the Russian winger’s scoring touch is for real and not a blip on the radar.

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