With the signing of John Tavares, the Toronto Maple Leafs dramatically improved their offensive firepower and will be a match up problem for teams next season, but based on their cap situation for next season, they may have a window to load up for a Stanley Cup run without adversely affecting their future.
The question is how GM Kyle Dubas will use the cap space he has left. According to Cap Friendly, the Leafs are $14.7 Million under the cap with only restricted free agent William Nylander left unsigned. A bridge or long term deal for Nylander will leave Toronto with anywhere from $9 to $10 Million in cap space and that is not factoring in the option of moving Nathan Horton’s $5.3 Million salary to long-term injured reserve to open up more space.
One option is to keep that cap space until the trade deadline add being able to add a player or two in rental deals or sign someone like free agent Rick Nash if he decides to continue his career.
Another direction could be to deal for a player with one year left on his contract prior to the season, something that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman floated as a possibility during a Friday appearance on NHL Network.
Artemi Panarin’s situation in Columbus might be a situation that Toronto could take advantage of.
The Blue Jackets forward met with Jarmo Kekalanien last week in Europe and indicated that he was not interested in re-signing in Columbus and that he would not negotiate past the beginning of training camp in mid-September, which may have the Jackets GM exploring his options on the trade market.
Friedman speculated that teams investing heavily into next year (like San Jose and the Leafs) could be in on Panarin, especially since the price tag to acquire him would be for just the one year. In this scenario, the Sharks make much more sense than Toronto, since they lost out on the bidding war for Tavares and have a chance to extend Panarin, with his rumored want to play on the West or East Coast.
Toronto adding Panarin to a forward corps that already includes Auston Matthews, Tavares, Nazem Kadri, Nylander, Mitch Marner and Patrick Marleau would appear to be overkill and the costliest option of all the potential rental forwards (Max Pacioretty, Jeff Skinner or Wayne Simmonds), while ignoring the club’s crying need to improve their defense corps.
The options on defense are fairly limited. It is highly unlikely that the Ottawa Senators would trade Erik Karlsson to the Leafs (Friedman indicated that a potential deal sending the Norris Trophy winning blueliner to Tampa Bay was not as close as once thought) and the other top rental D candidates (Jay Bouwmeester, Ryan Ellis and Tyler Myers) play for contending teams, which means they will not be available at the deadline.
One situation that bears watching could be Jacob Trouba in Winnipeg. The Jets blueliner was awarded a one-year, $5.5 Million deal in arbitration on Sunday, which brings the 24-year-old one year closer to unrestricted free agency. Even though Winnipeg is one of the top contenders in the West, their looming contract dilemmas with Josh Morrissey, Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler may make them consider dealing Trouba at some point with the clock ticking towards his possible exit from Winnipeg.
Short of that or another situation opening up, the only option available to Dubas to improve on his club’s chances might be to add more firepower up front to make Toronto an offensive juggernaut.
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