The Toronto Maple Leafs and general manager Kyle Dubas have plenty of work to do coming up. On the top of the list of course is figuring out the Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews contract situations.However the team also has to take a look at their defense as two of their main minute eaters will be UFA after this season. Both Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey's contracts are up after this season and while it's unlikely that Hainsey is back, it's starting to look like Gardiner could stick around. Despite Nick Kypreos pointing out that Gardiner could land $6-7million a year on the open market the Leafs look like they'll work to get him to stick around. Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest "31 Thoughts" column that the Leafs will offer him term and a nice fat signing bonus to have a smaller AAV. Of course, Gardiner has to be willing to leave some money on the table, but from all accounts it seems the Leafs are willing to do their best to keep him around.
