The Toronto Maple Leafs took care of some business the day before free agency, signing pending restricted free agent Timothy Liljegren to a contract extension. The contract is two years in duration and carries an AAV of $3M.
This is a tidy piece of business for the Leafs. For the Leafs to retain Liljegren’s rights, they had to tender him a qualifying offer at the value of his previous year’s salary, in this case $1.5M. However, with Liljegren being arbitration eligible, there was a very real risk that he would be awarded a much higher number in arbitration, which would have put the Leafs in a tough spot.
Salary cap space is at a premium for the Leafs, and with the walkaway value this season at $4.74M, the Leafs would have been forced to honour the arbitration decision if it was anything under that number. This could have resulted in a tight cap constraint.
This is a good deal for the player and the team. Liljegren gets a multi-year contract at a value that makes sense, and the Leafs get cost certainty on a good roster player without sacrificing too much cap room.
Remaining RFAs
The Leafs have six remaining RFAs, most notably forwards Connor Dewar who has arbitration rights, and Nicholas Robertson who does not have arbitration rights. However, they did not tender a qualifying offer to forward Noah Gregor who will become a free agent on July 1.
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