Multiple Teams Expected to Pursue Maple Leafs Forwards in Offseason Trade

Brad Treliving was insistent at his end of the year press conference that the Maple Leafs would be trying to change their DNA for next season and beyond. A decade of failure has led to changes that are going to be felt for years.

So many familiar faces could be on the way out, and there are a lot of talks about buying out potential players like Max Domi, Calle Jarnkrok, and David Kampf.

But if they were thinking of trying to save cap by getting rid of them for essentially nothing, they might wanna rethink that.

If you were to look at the potential names, the three aforementioned are more than likely gone if anything, but their buyout hits are going to be actually more pricey than sending them off elsewhere.

Take Domi for example. If Toronto were to buy him out, he would be earning $2.5M for the next three seasons from the team, plus an additional $1.5M for the next three years after that for a total of $4M.

If the team were to bury him, it's a $1.15M hit, and if they traded him after paying his signing bonus, he costs only $2.5M for the next three seasons.

That's a very cheap option for a contending team to fill their bottom-six, or a team looking for a veteran to mentor the team.

Kampf is in the same boat, but even cheaper. While he doesn't offer the same as Domi, he costs only $1.74M after his bonus is paid out, and for a defensively skilled bottom-six center who is a penalty kill darling that's peanuts nowadays.

Jarnkrok is the most interesting, given that he's the oldest and coming off sports hernia surgery earlier this season.

He's a 12-year veteran, has a 20-goal season under his belt, is a proven secondary scoring option with defensive metrics to back it up, and he plays an understated game that teams love.

He also wins face-offs, doesn't take stupid penalties, and has a solid career xGF to xGA ratio; if he wasn't hurt this season he would have certainly helped the Leafs and can help any team who needs a veteran leader.

Sadly not too much, at least in terms of premium assets.

According to Ryan Ma of 6ix On Ice, he projects all three players to go for low level draft selections.

Working backwards, we'll start with Jarnkrok. Ma believes Nashville is the perfect fit for him due to his familiarity, ability to contribute, and not being in the way of Nashville's growth.

He spent eight seasons there and GM Barry Trotz has a lot of experience with coaching him and knows what he brings. Toronto can use that pick to send elsewhere or draft something they feel they can use.

For Kampf, Ma relents that while he doesn't have as much value as Jarnkrok or Domi, there are still teams who can use him, especially Minnesota:

Kampf would certainly fit the bill with GM Bill Guerin valuing hard-working and defensively minded forwards, and Kampf being so cheap is a huge benefit for a cap strapped team.

Finally, the biggest fish in Domi. Ma states:

It would be easier to give Domi away, given the fact he's still fairly young and has had success down South before even if it was only for 20 games.

Domi's value tanked over the last two seasons, and it seems strange to have Dallas take on money when they are strapped, but the bonus payout and some roster moves make it feasible.

So there certainly are some options the Maple Leafs have regarding trading off Max Domi, Calle Jarnkrok, and David Kampf; whether or not they have takers is another story altogether.