Down and Out: The Maple Leafs have questions in goal this offseason

It probably surprised a lot of the hockey world that Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and general manager Kyle Dubas have been making it clear not to expect drastic changes to the team, particularly with the core and with management. After all, they still haven’t made it out of the first round since 2004, including six straight series losses since bringing in the main core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

But after their most successful regular season in franchise history and a tough series against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, there really aren’t any reasons for drastic changes to be made. That said, it’s highly unlikely they run the same roster back next year, especially with starting goalie Jack Campbell facing unrestricted free agency.

Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna continued the Down and Out series on the Daily Faceoff Show, this time talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs and what they need to do this offseason.

Mike McKenna: “More than anything, they just need clarity (in goal), because you’ve got Mrazek for two years at $3.8 million. And whoever ends up in the net for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if it’s Jack Campbell, or if it’s somebody else, Kyle Dubas isn’t going to bring in a slouch here on a million dollar deal. He’s going to bring in a goaltender that can play, and that’s going to cost. You’re looking at anywhere from $4-6 million for a starting goaltender, and whatever that term may be.

Do I think Campbell’s in that mix? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Dubas has a great handle on what Campbell is capable of, and when you look at the UFA market, where do you want to go? Do you try to go after a Kuemper, do you try to go after a Ville Husso, or a Fleury, other people we’ll talk about in a second here. I’m curious about that, because I think it needs to be straightened out, you don’t want to be tied up with $8-9 million in goal without really having somebody you trust.

That’s number one for me Frank, but I’m also just curious to see if Dubas doesn’t make a play for a d-man. And I would not rule out making a real hockey trade here. Like I know that Sandin and Liljegren are still developing, you’ve got to keep them at house, but they’re still in a win now mode, and I think they’re one defenseman away. I wonder if Dubas doesn’t make one big swing here. I don’t expect it, but I wouldn’t rule it out here. Do you have that impression at all?”

Frank Seravalli: “I mean, as much as they’d like to, they still have salary cap issues to contend with. They still need to pay a goalie. Even if you think Jack Campbell is going to be your guy, and you want to try and get him on a bit of a discount versus what you thought he might have been costing as you got to December. You think December, probably in the $5.5 million range, he’s probably a lot less than that now, but still, it’s going to be more than you were paying Campbell previously, and you’re going to have to account for that on your cap. That money’s going to have to come from somewhere.

Ilya Mikheyev is a guy that the Leafs probably aren’t going to be able to afford, he’s likely going to walk. Then what do you do with Alexander Kerfoot? He’s a guy that they probably can’t afford to pay that much money for the production that they ended up getting out of him. So maybe you could move Kerfoot and create some flexibility there, but a lot of the money that they have available is going to be going towards their netminder. So it’s going to be a really big decision to make in goal probably starting first, and then seeing what you have left over to do on the backend.”

Mike McKenna: “Yeah, especially when you have your top three forwards are coming kind of close to $11 million in cap hit. But I don’t know, I even look outside the box here and I look at Nylander, and wonder…”

Frank Seravalli: “No chance.”

Mike McKenna: “…I wouldn’t constrain myself if I was Dubas, but I think the realistic path here is probably towards tweaking this lineup, because it was really strong.”

Frank Seravalli: “Yeah, people keep saying Nylander, Nylander, I’m like, why? He’s the best value contract you have on that team. When you look at production versus he’s making, you have to keep a player like him, when you’re up against the cap. You might be able to try and get a lot for him, but I think every time you trade a player like that, with that type of value contract, you’re losing. And it’d almost be impossible to get apples to apples to have your team be just as competitive next season as they were last season. So I think that would be a mistake starting with Nylander.

If you wanted to pluck another player from that big three, or core four, go ahead and try, I just don’t think it’s happening. And I think they have to try and continue to nibble around the edges.”

You can watch the full episode here…