Eastern Conference Team Emerges as Likely Destination For Maple Leafs Top Free Agent Target

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks have been the two teams leading the charge in the Jack Roslovic sweepstakes. However, after a recent report from Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, we can add a third team to that list in the Carolina Hurricanes.

Roslovic is coming off a season in which he scored 22 goals for the Hurricanes, but they chose not to extend the utility forward, and instead went big game hunting for players like Nikolaj Ehlers and K'Andre Miller.

Don't think too many people expected Roslovic to be available this late in the summer, and because of that, Carolina could be doing a U-turn, according to Seravalli. The insider mentioned that the door isn't closed but they don't have a spot for him at the moment.

That has been Toronto's primary reason for not having a deal in place for the Ohio native, as they're still looking for ways to accommodate his arrival, but no one seems to be biting on Calle Jarnkrok or David Kampf.

It's an interesting situation because Carolina's bottom-6 is fairly loaded with players like Logan Stankoven, Jordan Staal, and Eric Robinson occupying spots, but they also have over $10.6 million in cap space and shouldn't have any financial hurdles to overcome if they wanted him back.

Carolina would also bring familiarity to the table after Roslovic played quite a bit with high-end players like Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov last season.

While not as recent, Roslovic has spent time with both Max Domi and Auston Matthews at different junctures in his career, proving vital in negotiations for the Leafs.

Roslovic has reportedly been looking for a 2-3 year deal worth $3 million per season, but no one has seemingly come close to that asking price yet. Elliotte Friedman alluded to the idea that he could be waiting on Toronto to move a body or two off the roster, but if they remain incapable of doing so, they could see the free agent forward sign elsewhere with training camp set to begin next month.