The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially announced the contract extensions for both Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. Kapanen’s deal is a three-year contract that will carry a $3.2MM average annual value, while Johnsson has signed a four-year deal with a $3.4MM average annual value. Both players were restricted free agents that had been issued qualifying offers earlier this week.
Kapanen, 22, broke out this season with the Maple Leafs, recording 20 goals and 44 points in his first full NHL season. The blisteringly-fast forward used his skating ability to routinely blow by defenders and get in tight on goaltenders, resulting in glorious scoring chances on a regular basis. Playing alongside Auston Matthews for much of the season, Kapanen was able to play an offensive game at even-strength which resulted in some excellent production. Even better perhaps was his contribution on the penalty kill though, where he has developed into a reliable option for head coach Mike Babcock. That kind of versatility makes him an extremely valuable piece for the team, and a bargain on this three-year deal that will leave him as a restricted free agent in 2022.
Johnsson, 24, also produced a 20-goal season in his rookie year with the Maple Leafs, but came about it a little differently. More elusive than fast, the Swedish forward scored most of his goals from in tight off cycle chances he or his linemates created, and did so in relatively limited playing time. Johnsson averaged just under 14 minutes of ice time per game for the season, but still managed to put up 43 points in 73 games. In fact, he registered 40 points in his last 55 games after a slow start, something the Maple Leafs will hope he can continue moving forward. The four-year deal buys out one year of unrestricted free agency for Johnsson, making him a UFA in the summer of 2023.
The inevitable question now is what will happen to the Maple Leafs other key restricted free agent, as Mitch Marner is still unsigned and the team now has just $6.9MM in cap space. They can exceed the $81.5MM ceiling by $8.15MM in the offseason and have Nathan Horton‘s $5.3MM deal to put on long-term injured reserve, but will still have to clear some more room if they want to add anywhere else on the roster. Defense is obviously the easy place to make an improvement, as the team only has seven defensemen in the whole organization with any NHL experience and three of those—Justin Holl, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman—have played a total of just 69 NHL contests.
Marner offer sheet in 3, 2, 1…
I don’t see a team offering a offer sheet that requires 4 1st rd picks as compensation.
No way. You could probably trade for a similar caliber player for less.
The offer sheet penalties are way too extreme.
it depends on how much Toronto has to offer, really. if they cant clear out the cap space to reach that top rung, they may have a hard time reaching that range. if they offer in the top bracket, no one will challenge them, but its a question if they can get there, or will get there.
Right now they have 6.9mil in cap space plus Horton’s 5.3mil to go on LTIR, so they basically have 12mil in space already before the likely trades of Brown and Zaitsev. So unless another team goes really crazy the Leafs can easily match as long as they want to.
Agreed M34
This Marner offer sheet talk is fine if a team wants to give up 4 1sts and blow the leafs out of the water. I’m guessing it would take a near 11.5 to 12 million dollar offer for Mitch to sign. I’m wondering if it’s the length or the $$$ holding it up.
Marner wants (and in my opinion deserves) Matthews money and more! His agent has already made some dumb moves during the season with the press and I’m not 100% sure He has Mitch’s best interest in mind. He could take $9.5M over 8-years and still have room for a couple decent D-men without signing anyone…and Brown is expendable.
You will not see any offer sheets
GMs are just teasing each other to offer sheet a star. The leafs signed these two as they were likely to see an offer sheet based on their price and compensation. We see a ton of stars right now heading to RFA and I think almost every GM, while wanting their guy knows that the 4 1st rounders will scare off 95% of the league especially when you consider it leaves them down a significant trade asset in season.
Most everyone in the know believes Marner’s camp is looking at Matthews’ $$$ *and* TERM. So, forget about anything more than 5 years. The Leafs definitely don’t want another 5-star player going to UFA in only five years. I’m guessing from the Marner-Matthews viewpoints they may be thinking that if the Leafs haven’t won a Cup or two in the next five years, they may never win, so on to greener ($$$) pastures for both at that time. And, the animal that is cap-cannibalism once again rears its ugly head. Willy Ny, the Coaster Guy, should never have been overpaid. It wouldn’t have fixed this situation, but GMs have to realize there’s a point where YOU have the leverage and need to exert it, when appropriate. Now you in the G.T.A. need to hope that the very few teams that have picks & cap room are on the “NOT-desirable” list for Marner’s camp.
What everyone is forgetting are the four 1st-round picks.
what everyone is actually forgetting is that the Leafs still need to clear cap space if they are to offer that ~10.6 million this year. obviously no one will put in an offer sheet if he falls in that range, but the leafs still need to clear a bit of money to offer that. if they cant, anyone and everyone should be in on him in that second range.