Do the Toronto Maple Leafs go for one big piece in free agency or go for cheaper depth and sign a couple of players?
Sportsnet 590 The FAN: James Mirtle on The JD Bunkis Podcast on what the Toronto Maple Leafs could do in free agency.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bunkis: “You’re our Brandon Pridham. You’re the closest thing we have to it, right? You know the cap. You know about the contacts. You’re the person I go to, how does this work? There’s no doubt about it.
When you did the exercise of how the Leafs need to use that cap space or what they need to do with this, what was your number one takeaway?”
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Mirtle: “My number one takeaway was, that they can be players for the biggest fish in free agency. At least one. Like I think they can get one really big difference-making player.
And I think that the choice for them is gonna be, do you go really big and spend $7, $7.5, $8 million on someone or do you just, or do you want to have like, three or our smaller signings?
You know, I think that’s going to be the debate for them. If you want to go for depth, or do you want to go try and get one piece that’s really going to help you.
And the other debate for them is gonna be what to do and goal. I kind of feel like they’re gonna get like a 1B, like a Laurent Brossoit kind of goalie for $2.5, $3 million and give them two or three years kind of thing. I kind of think that’s what they’re going to do. And that that opens up them some lanes to then improve the blue line and potentially bring in a forward.
The cap space is, is a bit tight. You know, you got the new Matthews contract. You got the Nylander contract. Even if you let (Tyler) Bertuzzi and (Max) Domi walk, you know you’re looking at $15, $16 million that you’ve got to spend, and you’ve got, you know, basically three holes that matter.
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They’re not gonna be able to solve all of their issues. They’re not going to be able to get better at center, get a number one goalie, and get two defenseman. Like they just don’t have the cap space to do that. So you’re gonna have to figure out what do they prioritize, and where do they go cheaply and try and fill those holes.”