Buyout Window Opens, Triggering Make-or-Break Offseason for the Maple Leafs

On Friday, the NHL's buyout period will commence, meaning that teams will be able to take certain contracts they might not be to keen on keeping and buy them out, albeit with a financial hit for the foreseeable future.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a few players who could be candidates, and although reports have stated they aren't going to go that direction, the offseason is an unpredictable beast.

While not every team is going to be taking into account some buyouts, there are several teams with players who could end up helping the Maple Leafs.

The Dallas Stars might look to buy out either Mathew Dumba or Ilya Lyubushkin due to needing to re-sign some much more important pieces. Dumba's buyout would give them an extra $2.33-million to work with; not a bad chunk of change especially with them needing as much capital as possible.

Former Maple Leafs forward Pierre Engvall and his brutal seven-year deal has certainly been a failure for the Islanders, and if new GM Mathieu Darche wants to bite the bullet for the next decade; he could buy him out.

The most intriguing option for a potential buyout is Carolina's Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who does have a $25.4-million deal but given he's only 25, the team could buy him out for 66.7% of his contract value; a less than $900,000 cap hit for the next 10 years.

All three players end up giving the Maple Leafs something different.

Dumba would be an improvement over Simon Benoit and still fits into the physicality department. He adds yet another fearless shot blocker to the team, he can add some offense and he's a right-handed shot.

He's only 30, and won't cost too much to sign given that he's coming off a down year and needs to be looked at as more of a reclamation project. Even a one or two year deal similar to Jani Hakanpaa's would give Toronto a chance to add a very good third pairing D-man who will be motivated to perform better.

Dumba skated in 63 games for the Dallas Stars, scoring 10 points (1G, 9A) while adding 60 blocks and 70 hits.

Engvall coming back would be a bit strange considering they could have just kept him previously, but he needs a bounce back and what better way to get back into sync than with your old team.

He never got over the hump in New York, but he could offer Craig Berube a third line defensive forward who can chip in offensively, and perhaps take some of the load off of Max Domi.

Engvall only had 15 points in 62 games (8G, 7A) and he was placed on waivers already twice this season. He needs to get things back on track and Toronto would be a good place to do so; if they don't pay too much that is.

Kotkaniemi would give Toronto an injection of youth and a very interesting player to help build around.

He fits the Craig Berube size requirement, he hits a lot, wins face-offs, plays solid defense and while his offensive game never got going yet; he's got time.

He would be a great addition to Toronto's 3C if they wanted to move away from Max Domi, and allow Scott Laughton to play the 4C; a role he's better suited to.

Kotkaniemi had 33 points in 78 games (12G, 21A) and while he never broke out with the Hurricanes, does have 194 points in 476 games.

It's very likely that some or none of these players receive buyouts, but if they do, then Brad Treliving needs to see if he can make room for them this summer.