It’s free agent frenzy time. There are going to be some new Leafs today but when looking at top free agent lists, you can pretty much scroll to the bottom to see who the Leafs will be targeting.
Toronto is no place to make moves on the big names in free agency, and that is a bit of a mixed blessing as the more popular the player the more likely you’re looking at a scary cap hit or scary term. It might mean things are boring, but that beats a Mike Komisarek or David Clarkson redux.
The key driver for the day is the salary cap situation and here it is with the key vacancies in the lineup:

I’ve been incredibly generous with the placement of Nick Robertson in the top six and the Leafs should be looking for someone who has a bit more top six potential than leaning into the third line vacancy, but ultimately the Leafs are looking at bottom six forwards, another goaltender, and needing to figure out both space for Sandin in the lineup and under the cap.
If there is a big splash coming, it’s probably going to be in net and that’s where the Leafs appear to be connected to most this morning:

Hearing Ilya Samsonov is headed to TOR
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) July 13, 2022

Goalie market: expecting Campbell (EDM) & Kuemper (WASH). Good time to be a backup/1B also. Word is STL in on Thomas Greiss and SEA on Martin Jones. TOR among teams doing due diligence on Kevin Lankinen and Ilya Samsonov — looking at all goalie options.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 13, 2022

Obviously the idea of taking a 25 year old, former 1st round pi …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation