As the Leafs get ready for the offseason, it’s well established that the top priority is goaltending. There’s also an abundance of quality defenders on the team, so a signing on the back end would be for more depth, which won’t be at the front of Kyle Dubas and company’s plans. However, on the forward side, there’s a lot of potentially moving parts, and one of those parts is Ondrej Kase.
Last season, Kaše joined the Leafs from unrestricted free agency on a 1-year deal when he was 25 years old. By the rules of the NHL CBA, when Kaše’s deal with the Leafs expires this offseason, he remains a “restricted” free agent, which means if any other team wants Kaše they have to sign an “offer sheet”. The Leafs have an opportunity to match the offer, and if they choose not to, the signing team must send the Leafs compensation. In order to maintain the “restricted” free agent status, the Leafs must give him a “qualifying offer”. This offer is dependent on how much the player made last season. For Kaše, it’d be the same as he made last season, $1.25M per year. The season before, the Boston Bruins chose not to offer Kaše a qualifying offer, which would have been worth $2.6M per year. They felt his market value sank below that number due to missing a season wit …

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Author: Ryan Hobart / The Leafs Nation