It’s not unreasonable to think that signing one $11 million man is enough for one day. The Leafs actually added some depth at the AHL and AHL/NHL level too. But are they done?
They have some cap space, enough to sign the rest of their RFAs, including William Nylander, and still have some left over. They have 42 SPCs free and only four RFAs to add to that, so there’s room for more players within reason and still have space to sign some draft picks.
But is there need to add any more players?
As of right now the Maple Leafs have 10 NHL forwards under contract and two RFAs, Nylander and Johnsson, to add to that. They also have six defenders and two goalies.
They have some potential NHL roster players in Igor Ozhiganov, Par Lindholm, Martin Marincin, Andreas Borgman, Josh Jooris and Calle Rosen. All but two of those are defenders, however.
Let’s look at the 12 NHL forwards we’re talking about here. This list starts out really hot:
- John Tavares
- Patrick Marleau
- Nazem Kadri
- Matt Martin
- Zach Hyman
- Connor Brown
- Josh Leivo
- Auston Matthews
- Mitch Marner
- Kasperi Kapanen
- Willliam Nylander
- Andreas Johnsson
Even if Lindholm or Jooris turns out to be great, the Leafs are committed to playing all of this roster less Matt Martin in every game. That’s not a lot of depth. There’s wingers in the AHL for sure, but they are young and inexperienced, and only a couple of them look like they might challenge for a fourth line role. They could take Martin’s spot, but that’s about it.
The defence depth is excellent with multiple options to rotate into a third pairing, so that’s not an issue, but are all of those extras going to play in the AHL now that the Leafs have also added Jordan Subban?
Once you get above the depth level on defence, there is certainly room to improve by swapping out Ron Hainsey for someone better, but the cap space gets tighter at that level of addition.
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There’s also the question of three AHL goalies in addition to the two in the NHL. No one generally runs five NHL-contracted goalies at a time unless two of them are still in junior hockey.
I don’t think the Leafs are done making moves. They can afford to both add players outright and make some trades to swap for positional need. So, no, I don’t think they’re done yet at all.
