It looks as though the Toronto Maple Leafs have accepted that Ilya Mikheyev won’t be back next season.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs have notified teams around that league that they’re willing to trade the right to the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent forward if somebody wants to get a headstart on signing him.
Mikheyev signed with the Leafs as an undrafted free agent in May of 2019 after a couple of strong seasons in the KHL. He’s scored 36 goals and 36 assists over the course of 146 games with the Leafs in the three seasons since he came to North America.
Mikheyev will be going into unrestricted free agency coming off of a season in which he set a career high in goals (21) and points (32) in just 53 games.
Bringing back Mikheyev is a luxury the Leafs can’t afford right now as the team is in a difficult salary cap bind with some key players in need of new contracts. Perre Envall and Ondrej Kase are restricted free agents with arbitration rights, Rasmus Sandin’s entry-level contract is finished, and goaltender Jack Campbell is eligible to hit the open market as a UFA.
Last summer, the Leafs and Edmonton Oilers were in talks about trading the UFA rights to Zach Hyman but couldn’t agree to a deal. Hyman wound up leaving in free agency and inking a seven-year deal with the Oilers.
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