Eleven UFAs are still waiting for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and not all of them will be coming back. Ilya Samsonov, Martin Jones, T.J. Brodie, and Mark Giordano are unlikely to return to the team the following season, and Matt Murray, Jake Muzzin, and John Klingberg all missed the whole year due to long-term injuries. Muzzin is set to retire, but Klingberg and Murray both have the potential to return on a very cheap contract should they stay healthy. Murray will try to secure a professional tryout (PTO) or an NHL contract. Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmondson are the two remaining UFA defensemen. The following justifies their re-signal by the team.
Joel A. Edmundson During the trade deadline, Joel Edmundson was acquired from the Washington Capitals. He needed some time to adjust to his new squad, but once he did, he emerged as a backside powerhouse. Fans should anticipate seeing a lot more defensemen similar to him in the future with general manager Brad Treliving in charge. Treliving prefers his puck movers to be accompanied by large, tough blueliners, and Edmundson fills that description admirably. He is a bottom-pairing defenseman at this stage of his career who can guide younger players like Cade Webber, which is exactly what teams need. Although winning Cups requires veterans, the Maple Leafs have in the past brought in veterans who are too elderly and slow to play on a daily basis. Edmundson still has a year or two left in him before he gets to that stage.
Brodie will probably not be back for the Maple Leafs, and Edmundson might take his place as the defensive defenseman who kills penalties and plays a lot of minutes. The organization needs to capitalize on the fact that he still has a few years to live at this rate. Edmundson ought to accept a two-year contract from Treliving that has an average annual value (AAV) of between $2.5 and $3 million.
Lyubushkin Ilya It’s also imperative that the Maple Leafs get Ilya Lyubushkin back. Only one of Lyubushkin or Edmundson may be re-signed by the brass, depending on what they have in store for their best players this offseason. He is Morgan Rielly’s ideal partner, thus he should still be a possibility. He is a straightforward defenseman who clears the front of his net, breaks up forechecks and cycles, and usually hangs back to let his teammate make the offensive surges. The organization should make every effort to entice Rielly back on a cheap contract because this particular blueliner has shown to be so effective with him in the past.
Currently serving his second stint with the Maple Leafs, Lyubushkin has experienced both success and comfort. The organization would be wise to resign him before he becomes available for free. It is anticipated that Treliving will offer him slightly less on a two-year contract in exchange for the opportunity to play for the team and maybe win the Stanley Cup. He is coming off of a two-season contract worth $2.75 million.
It would be wise for Treliving to extend an offer to Lyubushkin for an AAV between $1.5 and $1.75 million for the following two seasons. Though it may be argued that it is below market value, this is a low enough cap hit that the team can afford him. After signing with another team and taking one test run in the open market, Lyubushkin eventually joined the Maple Leafs again. Treliving needs to be careful not to test the market once more, especially when they are in need of additional right-handed defensemen. The Maple Leafs will probably be extremely aggressive in the free-agent market searching for well-known defensemen if they make changes this offseason and deal a star or two. Either way, they ought to retrieve Lyubushkin and Edmundson, if not both.