The Toronto Maple Leafs have a Mitch Marner-sized hole in their lineup opted for a sign and trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. But when the clock struck noon for the opening of free agency, the Leafs were quiet.
They signed some depth players to fill out their roster, but they didn't add point-getting forward that could play alongside their top-six forward group.
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving cautioned that replacing a 100-point player like Marner wasn't going to be quick fix. But he admitted that the pool available in free agency to make a big swing wasn't particularly deep.
"If you're looking for a top-six forward there wasn't a long list of them," Treliving said. "If you're one of those teams that has a top six forward and you're not going to sign your own guy, you're looking at the same list. So, it really steers you to a point where the anticipation was a lot of those guys were going to sign back with their teams, which ended up happening."
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So that leaves Toronto with something they haven't had a lot of after Day 1 of free agency…salary cap space.
The Leafs will likely look to weaponize that space in the hope that later in the summer, they could help a team get out of a salary cap issue and acquire a player that they need.
"If we've got a box there that we call the top-six box, we're trying to give ourselves as much flexibility rather than spending and not addressing that need. And having some flexibility if an opportunity comes up later down the road, again, whether that be trade or otherwise. And that's probably the path right now that we're looking more closely at," Treliving explained."
Based on 23 players on their roster, the Leafs have $4,983,081 in salary cap space according to PuckPedia.com. They actively look to move depth forwards in the hopes of getting a player that they need.
The Leafs added depth forwards Michael Pezzetta and Benoit-Olivier Groulx to two-year contracts carrying an average annual value of $812,500. The Leads also signed forward Travis Boyd to a one-year contract worth $775,000. Boyd had a short stint with the Leafs during the 2020-21 season where he had three goals and five assists in 20 games before he was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks off waivers later that season. The Leafs are also bringing back depth defenseman Dakota Mermis on a two-year deal worth $812,500. All of the signings took place on July 1.
(Headline Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images)
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