The Maple Leafs have created a serious waiver problem on defence

The Maple Leafs currently have eight NHL defensemen under contract, and unless the team plans on reserving two press box slots for the defense core.

The Toronto Maple Leafs risk losing an NHL-calibre defenseman for nothing if management does not play its cards right but will will soon face a roster crunch, and new general manager John Chayka must navigate it.

Looking at the depth options right now, the Maple Leafs currently have eight NHL defensemen under contract, and unless the team plans on reserving two press box slots for them, they are going to risk losing one of them to waivers.

At the moment, defenseman Philippe Myers is on the outside looking in. As it currently stands, he has the smallest contract on the team, with one year left on his deal at 850k per year.

However, Myers is not eligible to be sent down to the minors without having to clear waivers first, and as it presently sits, there is not enough room for at least one current defenseman on the roster.

As the situation presently sits, if Chayka does not move anyone, they risk losing an asset for free.

Toronto's depth has turned a strength into a roster-management risk

Toronto has a lot of depth at the moment, and that is to be expected by a team spending near the salary cap.

Toronto did a sign-and-trade for Darren Raddysh and recently acquired Emil Andrae, who was extended for two years; UFA Troy Stecher was extended for two years as well, all the while only moving Brandon Carlo at the draft for draft compensation.

This leaves the Maple Leafs where they are right now; they have too much depth, but are in a position to alleviate some of it.

This new regime has been incredibly proactive, and if nothing changes with this present roster, they are going to have to expose someone, probably Myers, to the waiver wire.

Asset management is key here, and while the blue line has substantially improved, it created another problem going into training camp that forces management's hand to make a decision.

Three names are fighting for the final two defenseman slots. Stecher, Andrae, and Myers will be competing for these final two spots before management makes a decision.

Both Andrae and Stecher have been extended by management in the last two months, while Myers has the cheapest deal of the three and is a UFA after next season.

So even if Myers makes things interesting in camp, the likely option is that he would be the one to be shown the door the easiest, as he also has the lowest cap hit of the bunch.

However, there is a possibility management keeps two defencemen around, but that would mean the Maple Leafs would expose someone for their forward group to waivers, something management seems like they would not want to do.

The final roster cut could expose an NHL-ready defenceman for nothing

One truth is management could trade away someone like Morgan Rielly, and this whole point becomes moot, but due to circumstances like a no-move clause or Chayka not getting a package he likes for the D-man, it means that their roster as presently constructed is headed towards a roster crunch.

Comparing Stecher, Andrae, and Myers is pretty interesting; Stecher and Myers play RD; however, Andrae shoots left and can play on both sides of the ice, providing some positional versatility.

Andrae is younger than both, at age 24 than both Stecher (32) and Myers (29).

Stecher probably moves the puck the most effectively, but it could be argued that Andrae, last season, was better at doing that. And Myers clearly is the worst with his puck-moving abilities and skating.

Now Myers provides something the other two do not; he is significantly bigger than both Stecher and Andrae in both height and weight because he is listed at 6'5 221 pounds.

One interesting thing could be that management looks to trade one of two late in training camp, injuries happen, and trades happen for depth guys all the time.

The return is not going to knock your socks off, but whether it is a late pick or a prospect, some return is better than losing a player for nothing.

Ultimately, only time will tell; things change in sports, so it will be really interesting to see what happens going forward. This front office has been very aggressive and proactive, getting out in front of problems.

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