The Toronto Maple Leafs entered one of their most hectic offseasons in recent memory. Just weeks before the draft, the club parted ways with former general manager (GM) Kyle Dubas and hired their new GM, Brad Treliving. With the new hire came new ideas for changing the organization’s culture without moving on from being a member of the core four. However, regardless of who is at the helm, one thing is still looming over the Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews and William Nylander’s contract extensions.
Treliving took matters into his own hands on the second day of free agency by signing both Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi to one-year deals to help make the team harder to play against. There were also rumours swirling about the locker room and how it was “quiet,” so the Maple Leafs’ GM brought in Ryan Reaves, who is a known tough guy as well as a great locker room presence. Finally, with the recent news of netminder Matt Murray going on to long-term injury reserve (LTIR) alongside Jake Muzzin, this gives the team a bit more cap relief. It brings them to $2 million of being cap compliant. They will still need to make a move or have a player get injured during training camp to be cap compliant by the start of the 2023–24 NHL season.
So, let’s look at my predictions for the Maple Leafs’ opening roster and a few moves that will make the team cap compliant.
Opening Night Roster
Forwards:
Line 1: Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Line 2: Matthew Knies – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
Line 3: Max Domi – David Kämpf – Nick Robertson
Line 4: Sam Lafferty – Pontus Holmberg – Ryan Reaves
Defence:
Line 1: Morgan Reilly – T.J. Brodie
Line 2: Jake McCabe – John Klingberg
Line 3: Mark Giordano – Timothy Liljegren
Goaltenders:
Starter: Ilya Samsonov
Backup: Joseph Woll
Maple Leafs Need to Trade Jarnkrok for Cap Relief
Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs are in a cap crunch again. As previously mentioned, both Murray and Muzzin will start the year on the LTIR, which brings Toronto within $2 million of being cap-complaint. There is a possibility that someone could hurt themselves in training camp and also start the season on LTIR, but that isn’t a certainty. Due to this, it would be a smarter option if Treliving were to trade a contract to help relieve their cap situation.
This is where Calle Jarnkrok comes into play. The 31-year-old makes $2.1 million for the next three seasons, which will get the club back within the salary cap limits. Although Jarnkrok has been productive with the Maple Leafs, his term is too long, and the team needs to shed money. In the 2022–23 season, he scored 20 goals and 19 assists, which is very good for a $2.1 million player, but the Maple Leafs also have younger players who can make the jump for far less money per season.
Nick Abruzzese, Bobby McMann, Alex Steeves, and, of course, Nick Robertson are four players that could take over that role in the bottom six. Toronto will also have Matthew Knies for the entire season, who showed flashes of brilliance during the 2023 NHL Playoffs, which makes this trade easier. In the line combinations above, Robertson is slotted on the third line, and the reason behind that is that if he can focus on playing his game and get 12-14 minutes of ice time per game, he could be a 20-goal scorer as well given the chance and a clean bill of health.
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Jarnkrok does have a modified no-trade clause, which means he submits a 10-team no-trade list, allowing the Maple Leafs to talk with 21 other clubs to get a deal done. Toronto could easily get a mid-round or late-round draft pick back for him. A package that looks like this—the 2024 fourth and seventh rounders—could also help the organization restock draft capital for deadline deals or simply for drafting. If they were able to get both picks for Jarnkrok, they would have 10 draft picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, which is the most they have had in recent years.
Maple Leafs Need to Waive Timmins & Send Down Gambrell
Timmins was a Dubas pickup; the two had a prior relationship in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. This enticed Dubas to acquire him from the Arizona Coyotes and sign him to a two-year extension worth $1.1 million. This contract can be waived, which will alleviate some cap stress, which is exactly what the Maple Leafs need to do. If they place Timmins on waivers, it gives all 31 NHL teams a chance to claim him and move the contract off the books, and if he isn’t claimed, his deal can be buried in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Toronto Marlies.
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As for Gambrell, this move was most definitely for depth. He can play on the penalty kill and win faceoffs in his zone, but he isn’t an everyday NHL player. He is, however, signed to a minimum contract worth $775,000, which makes it easier for the Maple Leafs to call him up if they need him in the lineup. But that last-line center role is most likely going to be for Pontus Holmberg, which means Gambrell will also be sent down to the Marlies to start the year.
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Treliving doesn’t seem to be done with the team; he is known to build a hard-to-play-against style of defence, and that isn’t what the Maple Leafs have as of now. There are still a lot of questions surrounding whether Nylander will be signed or if he has priced himself out of the city and will be traded. Which would most likely be for a top-end defenceman in the league. That said, if this is the team that starts the 2023–24 NHL season, that is my prediction for the opening night roster, as well as a few moves that the team can make to easily become cap compliant.