Insider Provides Clarity on a Pair of Expected Changes Awaiting the Maple Leafs

Brad Treliving and the Leafs are planning for the possibility of entering next season without a star right winger as Mitch Marner is not expected to return to the blue and white.

The subtractions won't stop with Marner, however, as Treliving's end-of-season comments about changing the DNA mean that Marner is not the only player heading elsewhere.

In mid-May, The Fourth Period's Dave Pagnotta stated that the Leafs were exploring buying out a pair of forwards in order to reshuffle their bottom-six yet again.

As we all know, things can change daily in the NHL, and as the Stanley Cup Playoffs draw closer to a finish and the draft and free agency creep closer, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman report on Thursday's '32 Thoughts' regarding buyouts seems to go against Pagnotta's earlier report.

It would appear that Treliving would prefer to not exercise buyouts on Jarnkrok and Kampf as that would tie up future cap space, albeit a minimal amount with the cap rising.

According to PuckPedia a buyout of Jarkrok would save the Leafs $500K this season and cost them $260K the next and a buyout for Kampf would save the club $1.4M over the first two years of his buyout, but cost them $360K in each of the following two years.

For a team that always finds itself against the cap, every dollar counts and with a star-studded free agent class in 2026 and 2027, the Leafs will want every dollar available to them.

While Kampf and Jarnkrok may be safe from a buyout for now, it doesn't mean that there's a future with the Leafs, who will now likely try to trade one or both of them for additional cap savings.