Toronto Maple Leafs close to signing Kasperi Kapenen and Andreas Johnsson
The Toronto Maple Leafs were busy on the second day of the NHL Draft as they have reportedly locked up Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen.
Kyle Dubas continues to knock things off his off-season checklist after trading Patrick Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager is reportedly close to locking up two of his restricted free agents.
Multiple reports suggest the team will sign both Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson to deals. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Johnsson will sign a four-year extension at roughly $3.25-3.5 million AAV while Kapanen is expected to get three years at $3.2 to $3.4 million according to Bob McKenzie.
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Clearing the $6.25 cap hit from Marleau obviously gives the Leafs the breathing room to sign Kapanen and Johnsson who played with a big part of the Leafs top-six last season. It also gives them an idea of what they have to work with in regards to Mitch Marner‘s contract negotiation.
While some might not like the Leafs giving up a first-round pick to move Marleau, there were reports suggesting the team would have to include a player like Kapanen to get the contract off the books. Now, they get to keep the 22-year-old rather than try to replace him and Marleau in the lineup which is easier said than done.
The team still needs to figure out their blueline and even Kyle Dubas admits nothing can happen until their figure out Marner’s number.
Possible to keep Gardiner? Dubas: "We still don’t have that amount of … we love Jake. He has been unbelievable for our team. We would like to continue to keep that on the front burner, but until we solve Mitch’s situation, it’s impossible to engage with anybody." #Leafs
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) June 22, 2019
This was the cap trouble everyone was talking about going into the off-season but some of that can get offsetted by moving a contract like Nikita Zaitsev and calling up a defenceman like Timothy Liljegren. Dubas also says they can’t just give away Zaitsev as they would need a comparable player in return as well.
The Leafs GM also mentioned that he wouldn’t necessarily match offer sheets depending on what the number is so you have to think that if the Marner camp signs for an outrageous number it might not get matched.
Next. Leafs trade Patrick Marleau to Hurricanes to free up cap space. dark