There have been indications that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to make a bold maneuver this offseason in reaction to their fifth straight early playoff exit. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Chris Johnston both indicated that after the Leafs first round elimination at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens that the likely reaction of GM Kyle Dubas will be to revisit deals that he could not pull off before the trade deadline or make an impact move.
One potential option of a possible impact move is defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who was given permission by the Carolina Hurricanes to seek out a new contract from other NHL clubs before becoming an unrestricted free agent late next month.
The motivation by Canes GM Don Waddell is to give Hamilton a read for the summer blueline market with a flat $81.5 million salary cap, so that the Toronto native may accept a more modest contract offer from Carolina. This is likely not going to work, with a number of teams having the cap space to add a right-handed defenseman who has averaged over 40 points the last four seasons.
Whether Toronto factors in this mix is questionable, since the Leafs have less than $12 million in available cap space and only 15 players under contract for next season.
Friedman believes that it will be a challenge for Dubas to bring back pending UFA Zach Hyman, who will draw a great deal of interest in free agency after scoring 15 goals in 43 games last season, and that they could have interest in adding Hamilton to quarterback their power play, but that signing would require a corresponding move to clear cap room.
It is expected that center Alex Kerfoot could be a cap casualty either by being traded before the Seattle expansion or being claimed by the Kraken, thus clearing his $3.5 million AAV for the next two years, but the potential signing of Hamilton could make Morgan Rielly expendable entering the final year of his contract.
The first domino here is whether Hamilton is interested in coming to Toronto, which is questionable after having issues in rabid hockey markets like Boston and Calgary before thriving in relative obscurity in Raleigh the last three seasons.
Second would be the cost of Hamilton on the open market. The 28-year-old could draw as much as $8 million AAV on a long-term deal. Rielly is making $5 million in the final year of a six-year deal and will likely be looking for a significant bump in salary after next season, but that would probably be under any projected cost for Hamilton.
The return for Rielly in a potential trade could be significant based on need for defensemen in the league and his reasonable cap hit, but it does raise the question of how much difference it would make substituting Hamilton for him.
Once again, the Leafs hierarchy may be missing out on a more practical move to consider a trade that involves a core forward like William Nylander as the centerpiece of a roster shakeup. Nylander would bring back a comparable return to Rielly based on his favorable cap hit and term remaining and clear enough salary to re-sign Rielly and possibly Hyman, but based on their stance during their season-ending media availability earlier this month, this is not something that Brendan Shanahan and Dubas will consider.
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