Free agent focus: Toronto Maple Leafs

D Tyson Barrie – Sometimes, a change of scenery can bring out the best in a player and other times, it doesn’t work out. Barrie’s case fits in the latter category. A year removed from a career-best 59 points with Colorado, his inclusion in the Nazem Kadri trade looked to present a big opportunity for a new benchmark in points and a pricey contract on the open market. Instead, he struggled early and never quite found his footing. Overall, his 39 points (5-34-39) is still well above average for a defenseman but instead of commanding $7M or more in free agency, he’ll likely have to accept something closer to the $5.5M he made on his most recent deal. On the surface, Barrie feels like a candidate for a one-year pillow deal to try to restore some value and try his hand for a big contract a year from now.

D Cody Ceci – Included as salary ballast in last summer’s Nikita Zaitsev deal with Ottawa, Ceci managed to log more than 20 minutes a night in ice time for the fourth straight season. He’s a right-shot defender and is only 26; he’s already eligible for unrestricted status due to his seven years of NHL service time. Typically, players with this profile should have considerable demand but Ceci is one of the more polarizing blueliners in the league. He has more offensive upside than the eight points he put up this season but he’s prone to some untimely mistakes as well. His defenders will point to some advanced stats that paint him in a more favorable light, making a case of the eye test versus the numbers. That might limit his suitors a little bit but he should have no issues finding another team for next season but he’ll have to take a cut in pay from the $4.5M he made this year.

F Kyle Clifford – The veteran was brought in as part of the Jack Campbell trade to give Toronto some grit for the playoffs and he did fine in that role. There’s mutual interest in a new contract but it’s worth noting that Los Angeles paid down half of his $1.6M price tag in the move. If Clifford wants a similar contract – and he should be able to get that even in a depressed market – he will almost certainly price himself out of the range that the Maple Leafs can afford to pay.

Other UFAs: F David Clarkson, F Tyler Gaudet, D Kevin Gravel, G Kasimir Kaskisuo, F Matt Lorito, F Nathan Horton, F Miikka Salomaki, F Jason Spezza, F Garrett Wilson

Projected Cap Space

Even after clearing Kapanen’s deal off the books, Toronto has about $77.25M tied up in 20 players for next season, per CapFriendly; that amount assumes that KHL signings Alexander Barabanov and Mikko Lehtonen ultimately make the team. With the Upper Limit remaining at $81.5M, that leaves them enough to fill out their roster with some depth players but if they want to add another impact player, they’ll have to either make another move to free up some space or acquire someone with the other team paying down part of the contract. As a result, their current roster may not look all that much different when the puck drops on the 2020-21 season.