How the Maple Leafs can effectively create cap space right away

The Leafs have several forwards that GM Brad Treliving could possibly trade to free up cap space, such as Calle Jarnkrok or David Kampf, however the most logical and likely choice would be to trade a player who can be easily replaced, Ryan Reaves.

Reaves is well liked among his teammates and the fans, and is one of the last few remaining enforcers in the game. The Leafs have loved players like Reaves over the years, as they have had Tie Domi, Darcy Tucker, and now Max Domi, to name a few.

The problem with Reaves is that despite all the energy he brings on the ice with his hits and fights, he doesn't do much else, and doesn't really help score goals. He gets very little points and only sees five minutes or so of ice time per game. When he is on the ice, the chances of the other team scoring dramatically increase too. He also spends a lot of the time in the penalty box, putting the Leafs on the penalty kill.

Reaves is getting paid $1.35 million annually, however for what he brings, spending millions is simply too much for the team. Reaves only got six points in 49 games last season, and had a brutal -13 rating.

The Leafs need to improve their bottom six forward group, and Reaves doesn't help that. The Leafs should look to trade him and acquire a player at a league minimum salary that will score more than Reaves. Simply getting a player who can score just 10 goals will already be a huge upgrade.

Fans are worried it will be hard to trade Reaves, but there are teams out there who need a player like him, however it's not the Leafs. Teams would be willing to take on his salary, and the Leafs likely wouldn't have to give up any prospects for teams to take him on. Treliving could possibly attach a mid round draft pick and that could seal the deal.

The Maple Leafs currently have $1.275M remaining in cap space as per PuckPedia. If they are able to successfully trade Reaves, they would then be at $2.625M in space. Should the Leafs then look to move either Kampf or Jarnkrok as mentioned above, that would put their available cap space to almost $5 million, which they could use to sign a key player than can score 20 or more goals for them.

Toronto has a ton of options to improve their team, and clearly Brad Treliving will need to get the ball rolling by starting with Ryan Reaves.

Source: HockeyDB
Ryan Reaves Stats