Rumor: Toronto Will Be In On Contract Discussions with Gabriel Landeskog

The Toronto Maple Leafs once again find themselves embroiled in rumors surrounding a major free agent this offseason. According to Dave Pagnotta, the Leafs will be heavily involved in pursuing Gabriel Landeskog, the current captain of the Colorado Avalanche. Landeskog scored 20 goals and 52 points in 54 games with Colorado last season. The veteran LW was the second overall pick in 2011, taken by Colorado. He was named captain of the team on September 4th, 2012, just one year in to his NHL career. At the time, it made him the youngest team captain in NHL history, 11 days younger than Sidney Crosby when he took up the mantle in Pittsburgh.

Such a signing, says Pagnotta, is heavily contingient on the Leafs being able to rid themselves of Alex Kerfoot's $3.5 million contract. While the contract itself is not awful, the Leafs are heavily invested financially in their top end forwards, and need cheaper players to fill out the bottom 6 of their roster. The Leafs' signing of Wayne Simmonds to a two-year, $900k contract is exactly the type of deal they're looking to strike outside of the top 6.

That may suggest that spending high on another top winger is not in the Leafs' best interest, and there is certainly an argument to be made there. However, it's hard to argue that the Leafs would be anything but a better team by adding Landeskog to their roster. Couple that with the fact that the team will be losing Freddie Andersen this summer, and looks to be struggling to make a deal work with Zach Hyman, and suddenly the cap space to bring in a player like Landeskog isn't as far out of reach. Pagnotta believes the Avalanche have offered Landeskog somewhere between $5mil and $5.5mil per year, which is definitely below the player's market value. If Toronto were to offer $6.5mil, they'd likely get the ear of Landeskog and his agent. 

Toronto won't be alone there however. If Landeskog were to hit the open market, there will be at least six or seven teams attempting to pull him to their city. Expect Edmonton, Carolina, and LA to all be in the mix for the Swedish forward. With that said, Landeskog spends part of his offseasons living just outside of Toronto. That familiarity could be the edge the Leafs need to win him over.

Do you think the Leafs will be able to bring in Gabriel Landeskog this summer?

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