Less than 24 hours after a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes, the Toronto Maple Leafs have taken care of some business off the ice, as the team has announced on Wednesday that forward Pierre Engvall and GM Kyle Dubas have come to terms on a multi-year extension that will keep the slick skating giant in blue and white through the 2021-22 season.
The deal is reportedly a two-year, one-way deal worth $2.5M, a $1.25M AAV. It's a fair value for both the team and the player, as Engvall has performed amicably in his rookie season, registering 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points over 35 games this season playing up and down the lineup and has not looked out of place, no matter where he is deployed.
The Leafs electing to go the bridge-deal route with Engvall is not surprising, given the 23-year-old's performance this season. It's a classic case of the team wanting to see a little more, while the player is betting on himself to show more and, in turn, earn more on a longer-term extension.
With the Leafs being so tight against the cap moving forward, signing effective players to team-friendly deals is of the utmost importance in Toronto.
Though Nathan Horton and David Clarkson will both come off of the books at the conclusion of this season, freeing up over $10M, the Leafs have leaned heavily on those contracts to take advantage of LTIR cap relief to manage the cap situation.
With thirteen expiring contracts (8 UFA, 5 RFA) heading into this summer, Toronto has a lot of work to do to fill out the roster. The option to acquire more LTIR eligible players in order to continue to benefit from the same cap relief system they are currently employing is certainly there - especially for a financial juggernaut like MLSE - but if the cap does not increase (or increases only marginally, as we saw last summer), it may cause some issues in bringing back key players like Tyson Barrie, Jake Muzzin, Ilya Mikheyev and perhaps even veteran Jason Spezza, who recently announced his desire to play an 18th NHL season after this, his 17th.
While this particular signing is a good one for the Leafs, there is still a long way to go for this club to assemble a roster for next season.
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