Maple Leafs trade Sam Lafferty, waive Martin Jones: Why they did it and what comes next

When Toronto Maple Leafs training camp got underway last month, Sam Lafferty looked like he might be in line to play an important role for the team.

His initial linemates were John Tavares and Matthew Knies. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said the initial assignment “shows what we think of him.”

Two and a half weeks later, Lafferty is gone. Rather than lose him for nothing on waivers, the Leafs dealt him to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday for a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft.

What happened? How did Lafferty’s stock with the Leafs crash so quickly?

A big part of the answer: Noah Gregor and the salary cap.

Gregor brings a similar set of tools to Lafferty. He’s quick. He can be physical. And he might be able to kill penalties and punch in 10-plus goals from the bottom of the lineup. Crucially, he can also do it all for less than Lafferty, who came at the cost of $1.15 million on the cap.

The Leafs haven’t signed Gregor yet, but his PTO figures to become a contract, presumably for right around the NHL minimum of $775,000.

Replace Lafferty with Gregor, and the Leafs can carry 21 players. This group of 20 players leaves the team with about $952,000:

That likely means keeping one and maybe two of Pontus Holmberg, Fraser Minten, Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann (who hasn’t played a game yet this fall because of injury). The Leafs could also try to claim someone like Zach Bogosian, placed on waivers by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and go with 12 forwards and seven defencemen to start the season. Another option for depth: former Leaf Calle Rosen, waived by the St. Louis Blues.

Another smaller part of Lafferty’s exit is tied to William Nylander’s inability to stick at centre (with not much of a chance). That made it necessary to move some puzzle pieces around. Suddenly, the Leafs had one less spot on the wing, with Nylander returning to right wing, and one more spot open at centre.

I’m higher on Lafferty than the Leafs evidently were.

It’s easy to forget now, but he was pretty effective for the Leafs in the second round of the playoffs. With the team down 2-0 in the series to Florida, Lafferty opened the scoring in Game 3 against the Panthers, and he set up Morgan Rielly for the Leafs’ first goal, down 2-0 on the scoreboard, in Game 5.

Three Leafs were on the ice for four five-on-five goals in the five-game series: Lafferty, Rielly and Lafferty’s linemate, David Kämpf.

Lafferty posted an expected goals share of 53 percent in four games against the Panthers (he was scratched in Game 1) despite an offensive zone start percentage of 19 percent.

All in all, Lafferty showed that he could be a helpful playoff contributor.

The Leafs aren’t unreasonable to think Gregor can do what he does for less, but the truth is they could have had Lafferty and Gregor had they not made one crucial decision in the offseason: signing Ryan Reaves to a three-year deal with a cap hit of $1.35 million.

The ripple effects of that contract have only just begun to be felt.

Don’t sign Reaves and the Leafs can hold onto a better player in Lafferty and maybe boast a speedster fourth line of Gregor, Kämpf and Lafferty.

Lafferty was acquired by Kyle Dubas’ front office in February in a deal that also netted Jake McCabe. Part of the appeal in adding him came from the additional year left on his contract, which the Leafs have now punted for a fifth-round pick.

The team also predictably placed Martin Jones on waivers Sunday and may well lose him there.

Jones’ exit would put even more pressure on the Leafs’ crease, particularly backup Joseph Woll, who struggled in the preseason, and whoever the third goalie ends up being from among Keith Petruzzelli (zero NHL games) and Dennis Hildeby (zero NHL games).

Outside of maybe signing Jones to a multi-year deal, there wasn’t much the Leafs could do to prevent the possibility of losing him to waivers. His exit would weaken the depth in goal regardless. The Leafs are one Ilya Samsonov injury away from a twosome of Woll (13 NHL starts) and Petruzzelli, potentially.

They might well consider a claim on Bogosian ($850,000 cap hit), especially with Conor Timmins sidelined and the depth on defence otherwise looking suspect. Bogosian fits the part of the brutish defender they were looking for in the offseason, albeit in a depth role.

— Stats and research courtesy of CapFriendly, Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Reference.

(Photo: David Kirouac / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)