For the second consecutive season, Czech forward Ondrej Kase will hit the open market.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not tendering the 26-year-old forward a qualifying offer, according to Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff.com. Kase is free to sign with any NHL club when the free agency window opens up on July 13.
Kase was a productive forward for the Maple Leafs last season. He scored 14 goals and had 27 points in 50 games, but missed 32 games due to various injuries, including a concussion.
The Maple Leafs signed Kase last season to a one-year, $1.25 million contract after the Boston Bruins decided not to tender the forward a qualifying offer to retain his rights. Dealing with concussion issues for much of his career, that continues to be a concern for any club trying to sign the speedy forward.
In Toronto’s case, Kase has arbitration rights if he were to remain a restricted free agent. Under section 10.2 of the collective bargaining agreement, no NHL club can walk away from an arbitration award of under $4,538,958. There’s a strong case to be made for a substantial raise for Kase given his offensive output that the Leafs may not have salary cap room to commit to. Especially, for a player who has serious injury concerns.
The club has yet to confirm any of the moves. All qualifying offers must be tendered by Monday, July 11 at 5 p.m. ET.
The Maple Leafs have approximately $10.2 million in salary cap space, according to CapFriendly.com and still need to sign a starting goaltender, perhaps a backup goaltender and commit to other players.
On Friday, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas indicated that he intended to qualify forward Pierre Engvall, who earned $1.25 million last season.
Seravalli expects the Leafs will indeed tender a qualifying offer to the forward.
Engvall had 15 goals and 35 points in 78 games with the Maple Leafs last season. He became a dependable third-line forward for the club and will likely command some sort of raise.
Defenseman Rasmus Sandin is also expected to be tendered a qualifying offer. That decision was never in doubt as the 22-year-old is coming off his entry-level contract. Sandin had five goals and 16 points in 51 games last season. The Swede doesn’t have arbitration rights, which allowed the the Maple Leafs to have more control over the process.
However, Sandin can still sign an offer sheet with other clubs as a restricted free agent.
“If there’s going to be an offer sheet, the sooner the better so we can move on,” Dubas said in his availability with reporters on Thursday.
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