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Leafs looking at another roster crunch

July 14, 2018, 1:39 PM ET [204 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs took care of one of their their two unresolved contractual situations on Friday, as winger Andreas Johnsson accepted his one-year qualifying offer of $787,500. William Nylander is now the only free agent the GM Kyle Dubas has to get signed on a new deal, but once again the Leafs find themselves inching closer to the maximum 50 professional contracts allowed under the current collective bargaining agreement.

According to Cap Friendly, the signing of Johnsson put the Leafs at 46 pro contracts, which means after the signing of Nylander to a bridge or long-term deal, the Leafs will have only room to add three contracts between now and the NHL Trade Deadline next February.

Dubas has made a few decisions (or has had a few situations work in his favor) to alleviate the club’s contractual burden.

2014 fifth rounder Dakota Joshua had another solid season(15 goals in 34 games), making the NCAA Championship game with Ohio State, but all indications are that Toronto did not press the 22-year-old center to leave the Buckeyes after his junior season.

2016 second round pick Yegor Korshkov was expected to head to North America this fall after his fourth year in the KHL, but the 22 year old chose to re-sign with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv for one more year. 2014

2017 second round choice Eemeli Rasanen played well in his second OHL season with Kingston, but the big Finn indicated that he needed to work on his skating at the Leafs recent Development Camp and instead of signing a pro contract and returning to the OHL, the 19-year-old signed a two-year deal with Jokerit of the KHL and will likely play for Finland in the World Junior next December.

There is nearly two months before the opening of training camp in Niagara Falls and between now and then, the possibility of a trade involving multiple pieces for help on defense remains strong.

An area where there appears to be a glut is in goal, where currently the Leafs have six netminders (Frederik Andersen, Curtis McElhinney, Garret Sparks, Calvin Pickard, Kasimir Kaskisuo and Eamon McAdam) on pro deals. With Sparks and Pickard not waiver exempt, the Leafs may have to move one of them prior to the beginning of the regular season, since there were inquiries about the availability of both after the Marlies Calder Cup victory.

With nearly $15 Million in cap space currently, Dubas may not be done adding to the Leafs roster, but signing a veteran free agent defenseman like Dan Hamhuis or Tobias Enstrom would decrease their room for maneuverability even more.

It is possible that Toronto could down the road of a training camp invite (PTO) as they did with Mason Raymond in 2013, Curtis Glencross in 2015, Brandon Prust in 2016 or Roman Polak last September, to take a look at a veteran without committing to a contract.

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