Troy Stecher's name keeps coming up as an easy cut, but the Toronto Maple Leafs need more than one move before camp opens.
The Maple Leafs went 18-15-8 at home and just 14-21-6 on the road last season, finishing eighth in their division.
Toronto closed the year at 32-36-14, good for 78 points and 28th overall in the league standings.
Jim Hiller was hired as head coach back in June, inheriting a group that finished on a seven-game losing streak.
Stecher managed 14 points in 64 games last season, a modest return for a defenseman still holding a $787,500 cap hit.
Sending him to the minors would clear some room. It would not erase the bigger money still sitting on the roster.
So does moving on from a depth piece actually fix anything here? Not on its own, not with Steven Lorentz still owed $1.35 million after an 18-point season with two shorthanded goals.
Dakota Joshua and Oliver Ekman-Larsson carry the real weight
Toronto's finale was a 1-3 loss at Ottawa in April, a fitting close to that seven-game slide heading into an offseason of hard decisions.
Philippe Myers is another name in the mix. He finished at minus-10 with two points in 39 games, a rough season by any measure.
Dakota Joshua carries a $3.25 million cap hit after managing 18 points in 55 games, a number that has to sting given the price tag.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is signed for $3.5 million and posted 39 points across 78 games on the back end.
Max Domi is signed for $3.75 million after finishing at minus-29, with 36 points across 80 games, another number that gets scrutinized this fall.
Trimming a depth piece makes for an easy headline. Moving real salary off a bigger contract is the actual fix, and Toronto has been reluctant to go there.
The Maple Leafs were outscored 299-253 last season, a minus-46 goal differential that says plenty about where the real issues sit.
Camp opens soon, and every day without a real move out just tightens the squeeze Toronto put itself in.
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Should the Maple Leafs trade a real contract like Ekman-Larsson or Joshua instead of burying a depth piece in the minors?
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