Maple Leafs forward Max Domi told Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun that he knows his agent Judd Moldaver has been in discussions with GM Brad Treliving but declined to comment on the status of negotiations. Domi signed a one-year, $3MM deal with Toronto last summer but saw his goal total drop from 20 a year ago to just nine this season. However, his 38 assists were his best since the 2018-19 campaign. That could still put him in line for a raise this summer on a multi-year agreement. Toronto has a little less than $19MM in cap room per CapFriendly but they have multiple key pieces to try to sign into that space which could make fitting in a raise for Domi a little harder.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Sabres are interested in re-signing pending unrestricted free agent Zemgus Girgensons, relays Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. The 30-year-old has spent the last ten seasons with Buffalo after they drafted him in the first round back in 2012. However, Girgensons hasn’t reached the 20-point mark since his sophomore year and while he provides some value in a limited checking role, it could make sense for both sides for the forward to ultimately move on.
- After years of losing money to escrow, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that players could receive the full 6% escrow payment back plus potentially a small top-up to their salary to balance the players’ share at 50% of Hockey Related Revenues. If that happens, it will be the first time the players receive a top-up since the 2011-12 campaign. Any top-up would not affect salary cap calculations for the 2023-24 season.
- In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that some agents feel the draft needs to be shortened to as little as four rounds. Most of the players who ultimately don’t sign with the teams that drafted them come from the final few rounds so some believe they should have the opportunity to be free agents earlier compared to waiting for their rights to be relinquished. The last time the draft was cut was back in 2005 when it went from nine rounds to the current seven. This is a collectively bargained issue so no changes will be on the short-term horizon.
Why? He’s a former first rounder that doesn’t score, doesn’t assist, doesn’t want to get overly physical, and has never been to the playoffs in his decade with the team. No offense but it was time to move on two years ago. Being a good guy shouldn’t be a reason to have a spot on an NHL club that needs to think playoffs or bust this upcoming season.
Props to those agents for suggesting the draft be cut back. It’s tough to give credit to some, but I have to here. As far as Girgensons goes, he has been a wasted first round pick. His main claim to fame is having a positive takeaways to giveaways ratio. But, @Slim88 is right, it doesn’t look like he belongs there anymore. Are they that desperate to keep a perceived “valuable veteran presence” guy around?