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The Toronto Maple Leafs after the opening week of free agency are just over the $88 million salary cap, but at this point, GM Brad Treliving has not filled the top-six spot vacated by the departure of winger Tyler Bertuzzi to Chicago on July 1. Assuming that there is not a Mitch Marner deal made between now and the start of training camp, GM Brad Treliving will likely try to follow what his predecessor Kyle Dubas did in getting one or two veterans to sign in Toronto on a veteran-minimum deal (or close to that).
The Leafs under new head coach Craig Berube may experiment with different alignments, such as shifting William Nylander over to the much weaker left side since Marner and Max Domi will play on the right, otherwise, it means that two of Calle Jarnkrok, Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson, or Bobby McMann will be playing on Toronto’s top-six.
The free agent cupboard is fairly bare after seven days of rampant spending, but there still remains a few intriguing targets that could be candidates to play in a scoring role.
Here are a few possibilities:
Mike Hoffman – The 34-year-old has not scored more than 20 goals since 2019-20 and his scoring numbers have decreased each year since then (last season he had 10 goals in 66 games with San Jose), but it might be worth a roll of the dice.
Dominik Kubalik – The 28-year-old Czech scored 30 goals as a rookie that earned him a Calder Trophy nomination, he scored 20 in Detroit in 2023 before being salary-dumped to Ottawa in the Alex DeBrincat deal.
Daniel Sprong – Interesting that this talented 27-year-old winger has scored 39 goals over two seasons in Seattle and Detroit in limited ice time and both clubs walked away and allowed Sprong to go to free agency.
James van Riemsdyk – They say you can never go home again, but the 35-year-old JVR went back to Philadelphia after spending six seasons in Toronto. Van Riemsdyk scored 11 goals for Boston last season and his top-six days may be over with, but the Leafs are looking for options.
Alex Nylander – Willie’s little brother is a former top-10 pick of Buffalo who has played with Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Columbus since being dealt by the Sabres in 2019. After two strong seasons with Scranton-Wilkes Barre, the 26-year-old was dealt to the Blue Jackets in February and scored 11 goals in 23 games, but still did not receive a qualifying offer. This would seem to be a low-risk signing for Treliving.
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