Maple Leafs deciding the fate of a dozen free agents triggers the exact cap space needed to sign a star

With the regular season over and a lot of discussion about how the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to look, they certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to get back to a competitive level and there are names that have to go.

Dealing with a laundry list of restricted and unrestricted free agents, there are some big decisions that the Maple Leafs have to make regarding who is going to stay and who gets let go and the new leadership group is going to be trimming a lot of the fat.

So who exactly is on the chopping block? Let's take a look at both sides and see who may be sticking around.

Unlike other teams, the Maple Leafs don't actually have a lot of premium names who are going to be unrestricted this year:

- Calle Jarnkrok (56 GP, 8 points)
- Troy Stecher (64 GP, 14 points)
- Matt Benning (1 GP, 0 points)
- Travis Boyd (34 GP, 29 points)*
- Nathan Mayes (63 GP, 15 points)**
- Vinni Lettieri (55 GP, 42 points)*
- Joe Miller (34 GP, 12 points)***

*Denotes AHL stats
**Denotes WHL Stats
***Denotes NCAA Staff

The most valuable name on the list is Troy Stecher, and he was a waiver pickup. He could be used as more of a Philippe Myers/Simon Benoit in a depth role and does offer some secondary offensive help.

But he's also reaching his mid-30's and Toronto can't afford to overpay someone who won't play too much so a one or two-year deal at under $1-million seems feasible.

Jarnkrok is someone who should never touch the ice for the team again, as he was so ineffective it was actually impressive. He costs way too much and does nothing of value. He's gone.

Benning came over as part of the Timothy Liljegren trade to the Sharks last year and while he has some NHL experience has been mainly used as AHL depth; Toronto has enough of that to go around so he's probably headed elsewhere.

Then comes to the smaller names like Boyd, Lettieri, Mayes and Miller. No one really made a huge impact except Lettieri who had 42 points in 55 games, so if there's one player to keep it's him — though with the influx of NCAA names coming in he may not have a spot.

Mayes and Miller are really just fringe AHL players and are expendable, there's not too much else to focus on.

It's really a group of players who can add some depth somewhere and in the case of Lettieri, provide great help at the AHL level. But for a team who wants to win the Stanley Cup; they aren't moving the needle.

Now here comes the fun part. Toronto has some names who could seriously make a difference next year and beyond but there are still questions about their fit:

- Nick Robertson (78 GP, 32 points)
- Matias Maccelli (71 GP, 39 points)
- Jacob Quillan (23 GP, 3 points)
- William Villeneuve (3 GP, 0 points)
- Henry Thrun (4 GP, 0 points)
- Ryan Tverberg (2 GP, 0 points)
- John Prokop (24 GP, 3 points)*
- Braeden Kressler (7 GP, 5 points)**
- Vyacheslav Peksa (12 GP, 4-4-0, .869 SV%)*

*Denotes AHL stats
**Denotes ECHL stats

Names like Robertson and Maccelli are guys who are young enough to be a part of the future but also need to show a little bit more of what they can offer. It wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in them for a couple seasons each and give them the chance to sink or swim; if they don't work then you deal them away.

Robertson has top-six potential and Maccelli can fit in the middle-six pretty comfortably and did show glimpses of promise towards the end of the year. Matching two-year, $4.4-million contracts could work — one to reward Robertson's career year and motivate Maccelli to earn the next deal.

Quillan is a name who needs to be kept around as he's a great two-way player who was robbed time and time again of a chance. Think of him as a much better and cheaper Jarnkrok who is ten years younger.

He was also a scoring machine in the AHL and his numbers don't dictate just how good he is with the puck.

Villeneuve is someone who the jury is still out on and while he had a very minor audition this season, the team needs to either sign him and play him with the team next year or cut their losses and decide he's not the guy. This is year five of him being here; sink or swim.

Thrun is a great depth name who has NHL experience so as a league minimum contract he's fine. Tverberg and Kressler are two names who could fight for the fourth line though it's more likely Toronto chooses Tverberg over Kressler if t hey had to make a choice.

Prokop is a player who was signed out of the NCAA and never really took off like the team had hoped, so it's up in the air what they want to do with him.

Peksa is a guy they should also keep in the pipeline not only because he's good, but because when Dennis Hildeby and/or Artur Akhtyamov get brought up, the Marlies are going to need a goalie.

It's a huge list of potential players but there is a good chance that only a handful of these guys are going to be on the roster next year. You can expect Robertson, Maccelli, Quillan, Villeneuve, and potentially Stecher back in the fold.

Otherwise, the other guys are going to need to find a new home come 2026-27.

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