What Maple Leafs Should Do With Pending Restricted Free Agents

The Toronto Maple Leafs are no strangers to conducting lengthy, complicated negotiations with big-name restricted free agents.

But unlike last offseason’s summer-long saga with Mitch Marner, or the literal last-minute contract with William Nylander from 2018, Toronto’s current batch of RFAs possess much less star power — and presumably much less drama.

One prospective RFA has already settled up with the club, as forward Pierre Engvall accepted a two-year, $2.5 million extension in February. That leaves four others, all with interesting and unique circumstances that are worth a closer look.

(NOTE: An overview of Toronto’s pending unrestricted free agents was published two days ago.)

Ilya Mikheyev (forward)

After an impressive autumn (23 points in 39 games), Mikheyev’s season came to an alarmingly abrupt halt when an opponent’s skate blade gashed his wrist in late December.

Mikheyev returned to full health in mid-March, right on schedule, but the NHL had already shut down as a result of COVID-19.

The 25-year-old was playing his best hockey before the injury (six points in six games). He provided a nice injection of speed to the bottom-six forward group and was among the team’s best penalty killers.

Here’s the problem: Mikheyev’s small sample size makes it difficult to assess his value. That’s a challenge on both sides of the bargaining table.

Earlier this month, on Sportsnet’s FAN 590 radio station, Mikheyev’s agent Dan Milstein had this to say about the contract status of the Russian winger: “(The Maple Leafs) did call to let us know that they were interested in retaining Ilya…I spoke with Ilya about if he wants to be in Toronto. The best thing for us is to wait so he can play some more games and show what he can do.”

Playing more games this season is an “if” right now. Not a “when.” But if the season does resume, Mikheyev will have a chance to strengthen his case. If not, he might have to take this one to arbitration.

Another Milstein client, Alexander Barabanov, recently signed with Toronto. There’s a nice team-to-agent relationship there. It would be surprising if a deal of some kind didn’t get done with Mikheyev and the Maple Leafs.

Frederik Gauthier (forward)

The “Goat” was certainly a fan favorite, though he didn’t find his way onto the score sheet very much.

In 61 games, the 2013 first round pick had seven goals, 12 points, a minus-four rating and 66 hits. He also won 54.7 percent of his draws (third among Maple Leafs with 300-plus faceoffs).

Before Kyle Clifford joined the mix, Gauthier was arguably the team’s best checking forward (on a team with a very limited supply of checking forwards, mind you). He has a role to fill, even if he’s a slower player and don’t offer much offensively.

Gauthier had a $675,000 cap hit last year. That’ll inch up a bit, but should stay well within an affordable range for the Maple Leafs (and he is arbitration-eligible, if it comes to that).

Denis Malgin (forward)

Malgin is a fairly unknown quantity for the average Maple Leafs observer.

He came to Toronto in a one-for-one trade on Feb. 19 that shipped Mason Marchment off to Florida. It was a very low-stakes deal — essentially a swap of minor leaguers.

But Malgin did get a shot with the Maple Leafs. It fell utterly flat. He was held without a point in eight games (while sporting a minus-three rating).

Malgin is only 23 and Toronto just traded for him a couple months ago. Whatever they see in him hasn’t become apparent to the rest of us, but keeping him around on an inexpensive two-way deal would make sense.

Travis Dermott (defense)

If the final memory of Toronto’s 2019-20 season is its March 10 game against Tampa Bay, it was a nice way to go out for Dermott.

He skated a game-high 25:06 in the Maple Leafs’ 2-1 win that night. And that should tell you all you need to know about the faith Toronto has in the happy-go-lucky 23-year-old.

Yes, his offensive production is still lacking. Dermott only has 41 points in 157 NHL games. He had 116 points in 179 OHL games — while that’s an apple-to-orange comparison, it shows that he has achieved offensive success at a lower level.

Another knock on Dermott is that he’s a non-factor on special teams. He also had nearly identical ice time this year (17:19 per game) as he did in 2018-19.

Still, a lot was asked of Dermott this season.

In a tumultuous year on Toronto’s blue line, with a litany of lengthy injuries — including Dermott, who missed most of the first month recovering from shoulder surgery — he had to skate 200-plus minutes with three defensemen (Justin Holl, Cody Ceci and Tyson Barrie).

It can be difficult to get in a groove when you have a carousel of co-pilots.

Dermott is the only player on this list who isn’t eligible for arbitration. After another disappointing offensive campaign, he’s likely eager to prove he can be better — and cash in accordingly.

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox recently predicted a bridge deal for Dermott and I couldn’t agree more. Both sides would be better suited to re-assess this situation in two or three years.

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