NHL Rumors: Are Toronto Maple Leafs Going One Big Piece or Going Deep in Free Agency?
Do the Toronto Maple Leafs want one big piece in free agency or do they want cheap depth and sign a few players?
Sportsnet 590 THE FAN: James Mirtle on the JD Bunkis Podcast on what the Toronto Maple Leafs can do in free agency.
** NHLRumors.com subscription
Bunkis: “He’s our Brandon Pridham. You’re the closest thing we have to it, aren’t you? You know the cap. You know about your contacts. You are my go-to person, how does this work? There is no doubt about it.
When you’re doing an assessment of how the Leafs need to use that cap space or what they need to do with this, what’s your number one pick?
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs – Goaltending, Marner, and the Golden Knights
Myrtle: “The first thing I took away was, they can be big freebies. At least one. As I think they can get one big player who makes the difference.
And I think their choice is going to be, do you go big and spend $7, $7.5, $8 million on somebody or do you come up, or do you want to be liked, three or our younger signees?
You know, I think it will be a debate for them. If you want to go deeper, or you want to go try and find one piece that will really help you.
And another argument for them will be what to do and what to aim for. I feel like they’re going to get like a 1B, like a Laurent Brossoit type of $2.5, $3 million and give them two or three years kind of thing. I think that’s what they’re going to do. And that opens up some avenues for them to improve the blue line and potentially bring forwards.
Cap space is tight. You know, he got a new contract for Matthews. He got Nylander’s contract. Even if you let (Tyler) Bertuzzi and (Max) Domi go, you know you’re looking at $15, $16 million to spend, and you have three key holes.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs May Target Two UFA Defensemen
They will not be able to solve all their problems. They won’t be able to get better in midfield, get a starting goalkeeper, and get two defenders. Just because they don’t have the cap space to do that. So you’ll have to find out what their priorities are, and where they’re going for cheap and try to fill those holes. “
