With the NHL offseason officially winding down following the prospects tournaments held over this past weekend, several teams in the league are finding themselves over the salary cap just a few short weeks out from the beginning of the season. While teams like Washington, Vegas, and Montreal all have LTIR candidates on their rosters, the Toronto Maple Leafs do not currently have such a candidate and need to shed about $1.069m before they begin play in October.
On the other hand, the Columbus Blue Jackets may need to add salary to reach the salary cap floor, to the tune of around $1.8m, if the NHL and NHLPA do not provide an exemption following the tragic passing of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau earlier this month.
A salary cap dump trade from Toronto to Columbus makes sense for both sides. The only question is: who are some possible candidates on the Maple Leafs roster? Columbus is short one additional forward, per the words of GM Don Waddell in Buffalo over the weekend, and is likely set at Defense.
However, this is pending the ability of David Jiricek to finally make the jump full-time to the NHL level, which we believe he will do, but if Don disagrees, the Jackets may look for another RHD to take that spot in the short term.
With all of this in mind, let's take a look at just a few possible candidates the Jackets may look to acquire.