The Toronto Maple Leafs were very busy on July 1. From starting the day by trading Nick Robertson to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Leafs signed six new players while also adding veteran forward Nick Paul in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning to revamp their roster.

Outside of core players, this year’s Leafs look a lot different than last year. In comes two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, along with Paul, Colton Sissons, Jack Roslovic, Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger, and Zach MacEwen. Before Wednesday, the Leafs also added defensemen Darren Raddysh and Emil Andrae. Leaving the club in recent days are Joseph Woll, Anthony Stolarz, Simon Benoit, Matias Maccelli, Brandon Carlo, and Dennis Hildeby.

This year’s Leafs are not last year’s Leafs. But what comes next?

With the initial frenzy settled, several trade rumors and roster questions still hang in the balance. Despite intense speculation surrounding Zach Werenski’s future with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the player and team put out a statement to defuse that talk…for now. There was a lot of talk about Matthew Knies, but the forward is still there. And what about Morgan Rielly? There was a lot of talk about his future and that he was open to a move out west.

Maple Leafs GM John Chayka talked about the roster as it’s constructed now when asked specifically about the defense.

“We were able to put this roster together by actually adding futures if you look at it,” he said. “So for us, we've maintained kind of our future flexibility and capital and as players do become available or there's opportunities that we want to pursue, we maintain now the flexibility to pursue those things.

Translation: The Leafs still have assets they can move in order to get better.

With the bulk of free agents signed, teams will re-evaluate their rosters and look for improvement. That’s where it may be possible for the Leafs to improve. And right now, they will have to.

Their roster, as it stands right now, is not salary-cap compliant.

Based on an active roster of 21 players, the Leafs are $127,382 over the salary cap, according to Puckpedia.com. That does not include first overall pick Gavin McKenna, who will surely carry the increased rookie max baseline salary of $1.025 million. It also does not include Andrae’s future compensation. The player is eligible for arbitration and the Leafs cannot walk away from a number lower than $4.95 million. It’s unlikely Andrae would be at the high end of that, but half of that at $2.5 million isn’t unreasonable.

To get out from under this, it’s quite possible they place Max Domi, who sustained complications following back surgery, on long-term injured reserve to free up $3.75 million in space. And the Leafs don’t have to be salary-cap compliant until the day before the regular season calendar kicks in. So there’s little concern from that standpoint.

But right now, the Leafs' roster looks very bottom-forward heavy and perhaps there isn’t enough change on defense. Moving Rielly would certainly change that dynamic, as would freeing up an additional $7.5 million. Would the Anaheim Ducks, who lost John Carlson, be interested in shoring up their experience on the blue line? They certainly have the space (over $35 million). The Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken could also be suitors. Both have space, but Vancouver has to keep options open for Zeev Buium and the other Elias Pettersson, who are entering the final year of their entry-level deals and need new, bigger contracts in 2027-28. The Ducks seem to make the most sense, even after they figure out things with Leo Carlsson.

Perhaps the Leafs see the Marlies as the pipeline for an upgrade on defense with Ben Danford possibly getting a look here and there, if he’s ready.

A lot of teams have not signed their top restricted free agents. It seems like the big domino is to see what happens with Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars, and then the rest will follow.

The Leafs aren’t done yet.

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