Whenever the new Toronto Maple Leafs GM takes over, they will have a sizeable to-do list. That list will include numerous and wide-ranging issues. But one broad subject that the next GM will likely have to address is erasing Brad Treliving’s mistakes.
Correcting someone else’s mistakes isn’t always cut and dry. Sometimes, fixing something is much harder and more expensive than buying a new one.
But when it comes to the Maple Leafs’ roster, there’s one mistake that’s just better to write off: Max Domi.
Make no mistake. Domi is a great player. He’s tough, resilient, and is the sort of guy teams want to have around. But when Domi is a defensive liability and can’t really score (12 goals in 80 games), keeping him around for $3.75 million a year becomes an expensive proposition.
Domi has played predominantly a bottom-six role with the Maple Leafs. So, an argument is there for a forward like Bo Groulx to replace Domi in a third or fourth-line capacity.
But as Jonas Siegel noted in The Athletic, there could be an even more compelling reason to move on from Domi: A thin free-agent market.
“The free-agent forward market is thin, and some team may talk themselves into Domi as a mildly versatile forward they can get for next to nothing.”
The Leafs’ next GM would have no concern about trying to make up for their mistake. So, trading Domi for whatever they can might be the past forward.
If that trade involves a couple of late-round picks, heck, even a third-round or something, that’s a deal they would be remiss to pass up on.
Treliving Made Domi’s Contract Untradeable
Treliving made sure that Domi’s contract was as untradeable as it could get. The cap hit is bad enough. But the fact that Domi has a 13-team no-trade clause compounds matters. While there would still be 19 other teams that could be trade partners, it narrows the field quite a bit.
Teams not on Domi’s no-trade list may balk at acquiring him, strings and all. And if teams that would be willing to work with the Maple Leafs are on Domi’s list, well, potential deals could just fall off a cliff.
That’s why the Maple Leafs could be stuck with Domi, whether they want him or not.
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Maple Leafs Could Just Waive Domi
Siegel suggested a plausible outcome for Domi next season. The 30-year-old could get the David Kampf treatment.
In other words, the Leafs could just waive Domi and send him to the minors. If someone claims him, then good news. Otherwise, he goes to the minors, and the Leafs would get about $1.2 million in cap relief.
It’s worth pointing out that the perfect time to waive Domi would be towards the end of training camp next fall. That’s usually a time when teams are dealing with injuries right before the season.
So, a team desperate to fill a hole could look at Domi and pluck him off waivers. If that scenario seems unlikely, look at what happened to the Florida Panthers and Aleksander Barkov this season.
While the Maple Leafs wouldn’t get anything by putting Domi on waivers, at least the club would get cap relief. That additional space could come in handy at some point next season.
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