With a small raise to the salary cap, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving suspects it may take a while before many players around the league are signed to new deals.
The opening day of free agency in the NHL is usually a free-for-all. And while there is expected to be activity when free agents can sign new deals effective July 1, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving suspects it could take a while for many pending free agents to sign new contracts.
"Five years ago by July 1st, by July 2nd you can hang the 'gone fishing' sign," Treliving said on Thursday. "I think you're going to see an elongated time frame."
Treliving inherited 10 pending unrestricted free agents when he signed on as GM of the Maple Leafs on May 30. At the NHL Draft in Nashville, Treliving was able to get one of those players signed to a new deal.
"We like our players but we haven't found numbers that work right now," he said.
He did get one player signed on the dotted line. David Kampf signed a four-year, $9.6 million contract to stay with the Maple Leafs.
"I like David a lot. The staff likes David a lot. It's a premier position (that he plays)," Treliving said. "Just look at the market right now to try and find centers is difficult. We felt it was a manageable number with his age (28), where he can play in the lineup. Over the course of the last two years, he plays a lot at the 3C spot and I think there's some versatility to him."
The Czech player had six goals and 20 assists in 82 games last season.
In addition to the short-term issues, the Maple Leafs still have to figure out contract extensions for star forwards Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Both are signed through the 2023-24 season and can sign new deals as soon as July 1.
It's clear that Treliving would like to have clarity on those deals as soon as possible before figuring out any multi-year contracts with other free agents.
Treliving is no stranger to having to work long into the summer. As GM of the Calgary Flames last season, he navigated an overhaul of the team's roster when forward Johnny Gaudreau walked in free agency and signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Matthew Tkachuk then informed him that he wouldn't sign an extension and Treliving traded him to the Florida Panthers in late July.
It took until Aug. 19 before Treliving signed Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49 million deal.
With the free agent class not particularly deep and teams having little cap room, you are seeing a disparity in deals. The Chicago Blackhawks, flush with cap space, got players like Taylor Hall from the Boston Bruins for free. The Detroit Red Wings did the same by getting forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for 'future considerations', a term taken from Major League Baseball's transaction terms but in the NHL is a placeholder for 'nothing'.
"There's no cap growth. Something's got to give. That's just the reality of it," Treliving said.
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