Toronto Maple Leafs: Bridge deals could help this summer

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a tight cap situation coming up next season, with a number of important free agents needing new contracts.

Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen are just two of the biggest impending free agents for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will already be looking to lock up Mitch Marner to a long-term deal.

The one thing that benefits the Leafs in this situation, is the fact all three players mentioned are restricted free agents – meaning the team won’t lose them for nothing once July 1 comes around.

The biggest concern, however, is the Leafs’ cap space situation heading into the 2019-20 season, which currently projects to be between $7.5 million and $11 million – depending on whether or not the cap increases to the expected $83 million next season.

Locking up Marner for around $9/10 million could see the Leafs left with just $2 million under the cap, leaving little room to negotiate with other players.

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One thing that could help the team is the use of long term injured reserve – which would allow the Leafs some extra space above the regular cap total, depending on how much they spend to the cap before needing to tip over.

With Nathan Horton‘s contract holding a $5.3 million cap value, this effectively means the Leafs would be allowed to spend up to that much over the cap, to help fit their other important contracts in.

The 2020-2021 season is where cap space begins to free up greatly for the Leafs, with Patrick Marleau‘s $6.25 million coming off the books.

So for the Toronto Maple Leafs, fitting both Johnsson and Kapanen in next season might be best done by negotiating cheaper bridge deals, with the view to offering both players longer-term deals with more money after the team’s cap issues pass.

Both wingers have had breakout seasons with the Leafs, with Kapanen earning 18 goals and 38 total points in 61 games, while Johnsson has 17 goals and 33 points in 54 points.

Both of these players are still young (22 and 24 respectively) and would command decent contracts if they were able to test the free agent market.

As they are RFAs, they will need to negotiate with the Leafs, unless the dreaded offer sheets come knocking.

As neither player has performed at this high a level previously, it would be unreasonable for either to expect big paydays this time around with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This could mean seeing both players signed to cheap one or two-year deals that help the team get through a tough cap situation before being in a position to offer either forward a bigger, long-term deal that they will hopefully be worth by that time.

With other free agents such as Jake Gardiner possibly being out of reach for the Leafs financially, securing other top free agents must be a priority for general manager Kyle Dubas.

Having these two wingers stick around will help the team in the long-term, even if that means only securing them for the short-term while they move through a difficult 2019-20 season.

What do you think Leafs Nation? Should the Leafs offer Johnsson and Kapanen bridge deals to help keep them while navigating the next year, when their cap situation is at its tightest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.