The Toronto Maple Leafs have locked up one of their key restricted free agents, signing Travis Dermott to a new two-year contract. The deal will carry an average annual value of $1.5MM. PuckPedia reports that it will pay Dermott $1.25MM in 2021-22 and $1.75MM in 2022-23.
Dermott, 24, was eligible for arbitration this summer but has decided to forego that process in favor of a little contract security. The $1.5MM represents a nice raise from the $874K qualifying offer he signed last year and makes him an affordable NHL option for the Maple Leafs. The question now is whether Toronto will even be able to keep the young defenseman, as the looming expansion draft could end up putting him on a plane to Seattle.
The Maple Leafs currently have Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie to protect in the draft, meaning both Justin Holl and Dermott are at risk of selection. That is of course unless the team decides to go the eight-skater protection route, though that would still leave at least one of them on the table given the “core four” at forward that will need to be protected.
Of course, having valuable assets is never a bad thing, and Dermott still brings plenty of upside to the table. The 2015 second-round pick has shown an ability to step into the top-four at times, though the opportunity to do that has been rare, and with improved depth for the Maple Leafs, this season saw his average ice time decline to just over 13 minutes.
If that’s the role the Maple Leafs have penciled in for him next season, losing him to Seattle certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. The team has top prospect Rasmus Sandin ready to step into the NHL and could even replace 13 minutes a night rather easily on the open market. It’s the growth that Dermott still may experience that is the real value here, especially if the team parts ways with Rielly at some point. The 27-year-old franchise pillar is an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season and has drawn some trade speculation over the last few weeks, given the Maple Leafs’ tight cap situation. Retaining Dermott would give them some added depth to replace Rielly if they did move him this summer, though it would certainly be a downgrade for the team.
Though they do still have a few minor league names that will reach restricted free agency, Dermott was the only real pressing negotiation this summer. Now the attention will turn to pending unrestricted free agents like Zach Hyman and Frederik Andersen.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Wow, 1.5 for 6 points a year is no overpayment at ALLLLLL. See ya Hyman.
@wreckage – Now, to be “fair” (try not to bust a gut laughing), Travis has averaged almost 12 points a year. But, he has proven to be a bit of a Santa Claus with his giveaways-to-takeaways. Overpay? Yep, fully agree. What if Hyman does the unthinkable, though? Hometown discount. And, the current discussion is to keep only one of Hyman or Freddie. Most are saying keep Hyman and bring in an inexpensive backup for Jack. And, *maybe* the Leafs try to bring in LTIR $ to play fast and loose with the cap.
@mac, sorry bud, but Hyman is getting in the neighborhood of 5M. Signing Dermott to 1.5m worth of cap just priced Hyman out of any chance category.
unless they move Rielly this offseason. Dermott I think at that price isn’t that bad if given more opportunities. would much rather have Dermott as the 4/5 at 1.5 than Rielly at the 5 million Rielly is making and the likely 6.5+ he will ask for.
@ wreckage: Well, you didn’t expect the Leafs to sign everyone to league minimum *except* for Hyman, did you? It isn’t THAT half million worth of overpay that makes the Leafs unable to resign Hyman, and you, me and everyone else knows it. A reasonable payment is a million less to Nylander. It’s giving Muzzin and Brodie TWO million less. Those two in particular were killers, giving guys pushing thirty who were already on the decline big paydays for what they’d done in the past for OTHER teams. It’s in not handing over $11 million to Tavares at all: that’s superstar money for what, so far, has not been superstar performance. And Dermott’s contract is the backbreaker??
And heck, they already saved money I wouldn’t have imagined they’d be able to save. Jason Spezza had a good year, and even at his age you’d think someone would pay him more than the league minimum (with NO performance bonuses, yet); he took a big time hometown discount to stick around.
@wreckage – There are some who believe he could get offered as much as $6MM-$6.5MM on the open market. I’m not saying he will take a seemingly unreasonable lowball offer to stay in TOR, but it could happen. Most of us would look at it with WTF expressions on our mugs if that pans out. And, as @MoneyBall has stated, someone else (maybe Reilly) could get moved to make room. The Leafs might end up being the most compelling story to watch in the next few weeks.
Honestly would rather keep Hyman, than Dermott , Dubas has to let someone go to Seattle(Dermott) interested in seeing Sandin , get his chance and less money to use elsewhere (Hyman) and keep Holl , can think of few others that some salary needs to be shed
I think the other thing to factor in is leverage. both Dermott and Hill are likely expansion draft bound. if you lost Hill let’s say, Dermott potentially has a little extra leverage in that there is now an opening. by locking him up, even if both are exposed, you only lose one and don’t need to worry about a negotiating based on a reaction.
holl.. dang autocorrect
Kraken bound….for sure…
You’d think they’d probably take Holl if they want a defenceman, unless they really believe in Dermott being able to develop into an everyday player.
Depends on who’s available, for sure. Heck, it depends on what Francis’ strategy is: build a VGK-style contender right now? Stockpile for the future now? Load up on guys you can flip as rentals? This is God’s own crap shoot coming.
Vegas didn’t build a contender on purpose. They lucked out. 1/2 that team overperformed. Francis is smart and will look at the 3-4 year rout and try and stockpile young talent and the odd overpriced 2-3 year guy that will be off the books by the compete window timeframe
Dermott or Holl will probably depart,Holl was the second coming until they put the money pen in his hand. Since then he has been a turnover machine. Having one is bad enough,but not too bad at the 6. Lilgren nowhere to be found.
Leafs are a mess.