The Toronto Maple Leafs cleared some cap room yesterday when they moved Kasperi Kapanen to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they aren’t done yet. James Mirtle of The Athletic reports that several other Maple Leafs players are “being dangled to varying degrees” including starting goaltender Frederik Andersen. Andersen would apparently only cost a single “low-cost” asset, as the cap room would be the big addition for a Toronto team looking to improve in other areas. The 30-year old Andersen is only signed through 2020-21 and carries a $5MM cap hit, but just experienced his worst season in the NHL.
Alexander Kerfoot, Andreas Johnsson and Pierre Engvall are the other names mentioned, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given the forward core the Maple Leafs still employ. If the top-four names—Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander—aren’t going anywhere, the team will have to move on from those second-tier players if they are to shed any more salary.
- The Minnesota Wild have added Frederic Chabot and Brett McLean to their coaching staff, while extending the contracts of Darby Hendrickson, Bob Woods and Jonas Plumb. Chabot will take over duties as the team’s goaltender coach, while McLean will join the club as an assistant, the same role he filled for the AHL’s Iowa Wild. The pair join Dean Evason’s team after the interim tag was removed from him last month. Evason signed a two-year contract after taking over from Bruce Boudreau midseason.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning still won’t have Ryan McDonagh in the lineup tonight as they take on the Boston Bruins in the second half of a back-to-back. The veteran defenseman has already been ruled out, meaning the rest of the Lightning defense corps will need to carry a little more responsibility this evening. McDonagh played just 15 minutes in a game one loss and missed yesterday’s thrilling overtime victory.
Why isn’t Dubas attempting with out mention of any movement on clearing cap space on players such as UFA Cody Ceci $4.5 million , UFA Tyson Barrie $2.75 million instead getting rid of young core pieces up front and on defense .
Sorry for the bother, @G, but I’m not sure what you’re asking on this one…
They are both free agents so they are off the roster once free agency opens up.
Mac , I was just asking about any story on freeing up cap space by moving Ceci & Barrie !!!! I haven’t heard nothing on getting rid of them
@Suddsy answered that, too. Funny thing is, nobody’s heard Kyle explicitly state that Barrie and Ceci won’t be back, but everybody on the outside of MLSE considers it a done deal. Now, with Petro’s comments on NHL.com, he sounds resigned to the fact that Doug Armstrong doesn’t seem to want to try and bring him back, apparently thinking that Faulk & Scandella are the answers. When Alex hits the open market, the Leafs will no doubt be considered front-runners to get him, *if* he wants to go there. Some have hinted that there’s a sort of “handshake deal” in place already for that, so the only wrinkle to Kyle’s plans would be a 180 on Armstrong’s part. If Doug’s going to do that, he’s keeping it close to the vest. It seems like only the Leafs won’t be all that concerned about a crimped-cap in the coming years, at least for now.
Cause they don’t need to clear those 2s cap space as it no longer exists since their free agents right now this very second
There is NO mystery here. EVERY move Dubas has made for 18 months has been with the idea of signing Alex P.
Barrie and Ceci will walk as UFAs. Kap was moved to clear space. Rodrigues will be allowed to walk. Etc.
Then Dubas is going to fill out his top heavy roster will his pet project Marlies to prove how smart he is.
@forwhomjoshbelltolls – While what you have stated could very well play out, it was interesting to hear Pierre LeBrun’s take on Leafs Lunch today echoing what I said previously. And that was just because the Leafs will be making cap room, presumably for Petro, he may not want to play there. Stammer turned it down, Johnny T. didn’t turn it down, but many other guys that have gone home to play there either didn’t enjoy it, or flat-out regretted it. I’m not saying he will or won’t, but the possibilities should be discussed. The real nightmare for Leafs fans will be a roster half-full of Marlies, as you said.
I’ll put it this way…I doubt Dubas has gutted his team because he THINKS he MIGHT be able to sign Alex P.
Wink and a nod.
@forwhomjoshbelltolls – You know, if it was any other team that was this heavily involved, the league *might* call it tampering. But, since we’re talking TOR here, it’s just…”bidness” ;)
I think stamkos turning the leafs (and other teams) down had more to do with thinking Tampa would be his best bet to win a cup. I don’t think he ever wanted to leave but was playing a game of chicken with Tampa to try to get more money. He backed off once he realized Tampa might just let him go.
Also, the leafs were terrible at the time so he had no reason to choose them over Tampa. Was a bit different for tavares, when he hit free agency the leafs were on the rise with high end young talent so that made it a much more attractive destination.
Please cut the crap about the Leafs being half full of Marlies. Take a look around the league. Every team is half full of players that shouldn’t be in the NHL. It’s the new NHL. Watered down product. Clutch and grab everywhere so that lesser skilled players can keep up with the players that actually belong there. And then in the playoffs the refs put the whistles away and the team with the most thugs wins the Cup.