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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Two down, one to go.
 
The Maple Leafs made extensions for pending restricted free agents Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson official on Friday, leaving Mitch Marner as the last major RFA for the Leafs to re-sign.

General manager Kyle Dubas had said at last weekend’s draft in Vancouver that the Leafs were close to finalizing contracts for Kapanen, 21, and Johnsson, 24, two wingers fresh off their first full NHL seasons. Both are now signed to relatively team-friendly contracts: Kapanen’s three-year pact carries an average annual value of $3.2 million, while Johnsson’s four-year contract comes with an AAV of $3.4 million.

Paired frequently together as linemates last season, Kapanen and Johnsson posted nearly identical numbers, with 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) in 78 games for Kapanen and 43 points (20 goals, 23 assists) in 73 outings for Johnsson.

Marner’s deal is the last piece of the puzzle now. Dubas had little to report in the way of progress on that front Friday.

“I know it’s a point of consternation within our fan base and publicly,” Dubas said about the ongoing negotiations. “But Mitch [and agent Darren Ferris have] been excellent throughout. What we think about Mitch is not up for debate. He’s an excellent person, first and foremost, and an excellent young player. I’m optimistic and feel good about where things will go in the future.”

The circumstance Toronto finds itself in with Marner is hardly unique, even though the rampant speculation can make it seem that way. In fact, Kapanen and Johnsson are among the NHL’s only pending RFAs that have agreed to new contracts.

“There are so many different players that are in the same spot,” Dubas said. “You go through different markets, and none of [the RFAs] seem to be on the cusp of signing either, right? There’s a lot of chatter and discussion, but we just continue to plod along with our business and just worry about that.”

Getting Kapanen and Johnsson across the finish line started for Dubas and Leafs’ assistant general manager Brandon Pridham back in April. The Leafs loaded Kapanen’s deal with signing bonuses of $3.7 million, $1 million and $1.54 million according to PuckPedia. Dubas said that’s a tactic the Leafs have the luxury of utilizing, just as other teams use lower tax and cost of living as bait.

“In some cases, players feel they could be getting a greater average annual amount somewhere else, so…they’re willing to forgo some of the average if the bonus structure is set up in various different ways,” Dubas said. “Because of our fan base and our coverage and our corporate partners, we’re pretty fortunate in terms of the revenue we’re able to draw in [to use on bonuses]. I don't think we should apologize [for that].”

Kapanen was certainly happy to take it. Kapanen couldn’t avoid seeing his name show up in various trade scenarios in the weeks leading up to his pact being finalized, but he said there was little doubt about a return to the Leafs.

“I wasn’t really thinking about [the noise] too much,” he said. “I wanted to stay in Toronto and do everything I could to stay and get a good deal done and that’s what happened. It wasn’t hard at all. It was pretty fast and pretty easy and I’m so happy to be here.”

Johnsson has already returned to his native Sweden for the summer and wasn’t available to speak with the media on Friday, but Dubas commended both of his newly extended wingers for persevering to this stage of their careers.

Now he hopes these deals are only part of their futures with the team, and is grateful for the clarity they provide to the Leafs’ cap situation going forward with Marner.

“Any time we have players we really, really like, we want to keep them and we want to keep them for as long as possible,” Dubas said. “But we’re not flush with cap space, in large part because we’ve got some excellent young players that we really like and we know where they fit within the league. So we’re just trying to keep this all together and keep it rolling.”

That won’t be easy for the Leafs to say the least. With free agency set to open on July 1, and Toronto desperately needing to fill holes on its blueline, the team has only about $7 million available in cap space. That could necessitate the trade of players like Connor Brown (with a $2.1 million cap hit) just to give the Leafs enough room to sign veterans to the league minimum, which appears to be Dubas’ only aspiration.

“We gotta save space for Mitch and that’s totally fine,” Dubas said. “We all know this year that we’re going to be right tight to the salary cap so we’re trying to do some creative things on the edges with players that perhaps look at this as a legacy opportunity for them or they look at this as the chance to rebound. [We’re] just staying patient and finding the right people and players that may fit for us on those minimum or close to minimum deals.”

It also may not be possible for the Leafs to bring back veteran UFA defenceman Ron Hainsey. In April, Hainsey wasn’t sure if he would return for a 17th NHL campaign, but Dubas said Friday that the Leafs might not be able to afford the 38-year-old’s services anymore.

“His play with us and what he’s done here may make the pricing of that a little difficult,” Dubas said. “But we hope to stay in touch with him and at the very least have a chance at the end to take one last kick at it and see where it lands.”

Dubas has spoken with other pending UFAs ahead of July 1, but given the Leafs inability to spend right now, it's difficult to predict how successful they’ll be filling holes.

“I think we’re in a spot where guys you would consider depth players or you would consider at the end of their career, where they’ve wanted a chance to be on a competitive team in a great place to play, we’ll look at [those]," Dubas said. "We'll see what comes out of here in the next couple of days and stay on top of that.”