TORONTO — Were the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ cap puzzle not so “complex,” as Sheldon Keefe put it Saturday night, they would have kept Sam Lafferty, not traded him to the Vancouver Canucks as they did Sunday afternoon.
Lafferty is a speedy, versatile depth forward who can kill penalties, jump on the forecheck and pitch in a little bottom-six offence (nine points in his brief 28-game stint for the Leafs down the stretch and into the 2023 postseason).
The Maple Leafs liked the player fine.
And yet, so crammed is Toronto’s salary cap, Lafferty’s modest $1.15 million salary was deemed too rich to keep on the books for opening night.
Fearing he would lose Lafferty on Sunday’s waiver wire — the final day to wipe salary before Monday’s cap compliance deadline of 5 p.m. ET — Leafs GM Brad Treliving dealt the player to Vancouver, where a front office of Jim Rutherford and Patrick Allvin is quite familiar with the former Pittsburgh Penguin.
In return, the Leafs salvage a fifth-round draft pick, giving them three fifth-round choices in 2024.
They’d rather have the depth than the late-round pick, though.
Lafferty, 28, knew he was on the bubble when he walked out of Little Caesars Arena Saturday night, telling reporters that he would simply spend time with his family Sunday and try not to let his mind race over a future beyond his control.
“It’s out of my hands at this point,” said Lafferty, minutes removed from a preseason goal.
“My mindset is, I just want to keep getting a little better every day. I think I did that. My mindset doesn’t change moving forward.”
In Vancouver, Lafferty will get opportunity.
“As we work towards becoming a tougher team to play against, Sam will add some grit and sandpaper to our lineup,” Allvin said. “We also like the way he skates and can back players off with his speed. He is a good addition to our forward group and has shown he can also use his speed effectively in a penalty-killing role.”
In Toronto, Treliving loses some depth and gains cap space and clarity.
The GM also waived Martin Jones, Simon Benoit, Dylan Gambrell, William Lagesson, Maxime Lajoie, and Kyle Clifford on Sunday, hoping those assets — particularly the cap-friendly Jones — slip through the wire Monday and stay ready with the AHL Marlies.
(Injured seventh defenceman Conor Timmins was not waived, suggesting he might join Jake Muzzin and Matt Murray on LTIR.)
Removing Lafferty from the picture opens room to sign fourth-line left wing Noah Gregor, a player Treliving targeted among many tryout options, to a one-year contract near the league minimum.
Moreover, it permits the Leafs to extend the tryout of teenage surprise Fraser Minten, a pure centreman on his $845,833 entry-level deal.
Minten, 19, could appear in as many as nine regular-season games without burning a year off his ELC and still be returned to the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.
“Either way, I’m happy,” Minten said Saturday night. “I think I left everything I could on the table.”
Tight budgets are triggering harsh decisions league-wide this week.
Remember: The Leafs surrendered a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick, plus forwards Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev to Chicago at the 2023 trade deadline to acquire Lafferty and Jake McCabe in the first place.
Their return now amounts to McCabe, a fifth-rounder and a couple months of Lafferty’s services.
Final cap-compliant rosters are due Monday.