With David Kampf exiting Leafs Land, attention turns to Toronto players whose contract status is up in the air at the end of this season. Here are the Maple Leafs' soon-to-be free agents to keep your eye on this year.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ saga with disgruntled center David Kampf has concluded. Now confirmed, Kampf was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, which had one season remaining after this year, carrying a $ 2.4 million salary cap hit.
Kampf is now an ex-Leaf, but Toronto still has several players whose contracts will expire next summer, and with whom the Maple Leafs could part ways. Let’s look at the Buds’ pending free agents and take an educated guess at what their future in Toronto could look like.
Matias Maccelli, RW
End-Of-Season Status: RFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: The 25-year-old Maccelli was acquired from the Utah Mammoth last summer to be a top-six winger in Toronto. Maccelli has bounced between the Maple Leafs’ first and third lines, and in 17 games, he’s posted four goals and eight points. That puts him on pace for a 19-goal, 38-point season, numbers that would beat his current career-high of 17 goals.
Maccelli will be an RFA this summer, and the Leafs will aim to use their leverage to keep his next salary in the $4-million-per-season range. In a rising cap ceiling situation, that will be a number Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving can live with.
Calle Jarnkrok, RW
End-Of-Season Status: UFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: At 34 years old, Jarnkrok doesn’t have much time left in hockey’s top league, and despite being a serviceable veteran who can play up or down a team’s lineup, it’s doubtful he finishes this season in Blue & White. Jarnkrok has been a healthy scratch this year, and he’s earning too much money to be a fourth-line player, so Treliving will almost certainly find a new home for Jarnkrok by or before this year’s trade deadline.
Amazingly, Jarnkrok has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to veto a trade to 10 teams of his choosing. That will hamper Treliving’s attempts to deal him, but every day that passes brings Jarnkrok’s Leafs career closer to an end. He’s not a bad player, but the Leafs have many younger, cheaper options to do what Jarnkrok is capable of doing. His time in Toronto is just about up.
Nick Robertson, RW
End-Of-Season Status: RFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: Robertson is 24 years old, and he’s had a solid start to the current season, posting four goals and 10 points. However, Robertson has already been a healthy scratch this year, a fact that tells you where he stands in the Maple Leafs’ pecking order.
If Treliving swings trades by the deadline, no one would be surprised to see Robertson included in one of them. He’s currency in coach Craig Berube’s good books, but one bad shift could lead to Robertson being shunted down the lineup. He may need a fresh start somewhere else.
Scott Laughton, C
Salary: $1.5 million, cap hit of $3-million
End-Of-Season Status: UFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: Laughton proved himself to be a reliable center in Philadelphia, but he’s had tough luck since arriving in Toronto at last year’s trade deadline. The 31-year-old has appeared in only two games this season, and he’s presently dealing with another significant injury. You have to feel for the guy.
Let’s make it clear – Leafs management gave up a massive price to acquire Laughton from the Flyers, so they’re highly invested in Laughton being a long-term fit for this Toronto team. He may have to take a pay cut, but if he wants to stay at home, there’s going to be opportunities to do that as soon as he’s healthy again.
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Bobby McMann, RW
End-Of-Season Status: UFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: McMann is well-liked in the Leafs’ dressing room, but if the Leafs’ season continues going south in the standings, you can see Treliving making changes, and no one should feel safe. That said, McMann has notched five goals and eight points in 18 games, a pace that would put him in the area of the career-high 20 goals he posted last season.
If Toronto hasn’t signed McMann to an extension soon, you have to wonder if both sides feel better going to market next summer. McMann is nearly 30 years old, and Treliving could go in another direction with his spot. Either way, McMann will be an NHLer for quite some time. But he could be swallowed up in a sea change management is intent on making. If the Leafs turn things around, he could be part of the long-term picture, but there’s also the possibility they continue to struggle. And that could spell the end for him with the Buds.
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Sammy Blais, RW
End-Of-Season Status: UFA
Long-Term Outlook In Toronto: We’ll keep this short and sweet. Blais is a stop-gap measure in Toronto, and absent some unforeseen surge in point production, Blais is likely to be moving on by or before the end of the year. If change is coming – and it’s looking like change is coming – Blais will likely be part of the change.
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