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In the wake of the Toronto Maple Leafs early exit for the fourth year in a row, GM Kyle Dubas faces another offseason of uncertainty and a fan base eager for positive results. In spite of expressing confidence in the club’s core group, Dubas faces a number of decisions necessitated by contracts expiring and a need for improvement, including some of his group of forwards that includes winger Andreas Johnsson.

Johnsson is a Leafs developmental success, scoring over 20 goals in two seasons with the Toronto Marlies, winning a Calder Cup in 2018 and reaching the 20-goal plateau as a rookie playing mostly with Auston Matthews and William Nylander.

The 25-year-old signed a four-year, $13.6 Million contract extension last summer, but slumped to 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists) in 43 games as a sophomore and suffered two leg injuries, including a serious knee injury after colliding with linemate Kasperi Kapanen in mid-February. Johnsson was out for nearly six months before returning for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup qualifying round against Columbus.

Following their loss to the Blue Jackets, Toronto is expected to make changes to their roster to open up cap space with the salary cap remaining at $81.5 Million, with restricted free agents Ilya Mikheyev and Travis Dermott needing new deals with Zach Hyman and Frederik Andersen scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in 2021, and to reallocate some of their budget towards the blueline.

Johnsson’s $3.4 Million cap hit would clear some room and GM Kyle Dubas appears to have enough depth on the left side with Hyman, Mikheyev, rookie Pierre Engvall, KHL signing Alexander Barabanov and 2019 second-rounder Nick Robertson.

Dubas might be challenged to get an equal value return in a trade because of cap issues throughout the league, but his return should prevent interested clubs from using Johnsson’s injury as a means of lowballing Toronto if they decide to shop him.

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