Despite not signing any headline-grabbing free agents on Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had themselves a solid beginning to their offseason considering the circumstances.
Those circumstances, and you don’t need me to tell you, are centered around Mitch Marner’s departure for the Vegas Golden Knights via sign-and-trade. It had been wildly speculated for a while that Marner was going to walk for nothing, so for the Leafs to pull off a sign-and-trade and recoup an asset in the form of Nicolas Roy, who will more than likely be their third-line centre next season, they made the best of the situation.
That said, the situation isn’t completely resolved, and our sister site Daily Faceoff indicated as such, giving them an “I” in their annual winners and losers across the NHL piece. Senior columnist Matt Larkin commended the Maple Leafs and general manager Brad Treliving for making the best with what he had, but indicated that there’s work to be done before the Leafs can be designated winners or losers.
“We need to pump the brakes on the Brad Treliving masterclass a bit. Yes, he got UFA John Tavares and RFA Matthew Knies locked up on excellent deals. Yes, it was a coup to secure a third-line center from Vegas in Nicolas Roy rather than lose Marner for nothing. But a question for the “We solved our third-line center problem” crowd: uh, what about your first-line right winger problem? Matias Maccelli can bring a fraction of Marner’s playmaking to the middle six, fine, but Toronto still needs another impact forward. You’re not replacing a 102-point scorer, I get it, but you need to try and replace 75 percent of him. If you aren’t going to bid on Ehlers, you must wade into the trade market. I fully expect the Leafs to do something with their $5 million plus in remaining cap space, and Treliving said late Tuesday afternoon he’s still on the hunt for another top-six-forward, so they don’t get a winner or loser designation just yet.” -Matt Larkin
He isn’t wrong in saying this. Yes, getting John Tavares to take a seven-million-dollar pay cut on his next contract is a win. Yes, getting Matthew Knies locked up for six years at a reasonable number is a win. Trading for Matias Maccelli, who is an excellent bounce-back option after a rough season with the Mammoth, is a win as well. But there’s still work to be done, and the Maple Leafs are likely to try and plug the rest of their holes on the trade market rather than in free agency.
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