Maple Leafs Extend Qualifying Offers to 6 Restricted Free Agents with One Key Omission

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had an extremely busy day ahead of the July 1st opening of NHL free agency.

Superstar winger Mitch Marner was finally officially traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, agreeing to sign a massive deal in the process worth $12 million per season over eight years.

In addition to the Marner trade, the Maple Leafs made another round of roster moves by extending qualifying offers to six of their restricted free agents.

As per Leafs PR on X:

For clarification, although it was previously reported that Matthew Knies had agreed to a six-year, $7.75 million AAV extension, the deal has not yet been made official, and he still requires a qualifying offer to avoid becoming a UFA, as Leafs reporter David Alter explained on X:

Notably absent from the list was forward Pontus Holmberg, who was not tendered a qualifying offer.

As per David Alter on X:

Holmberg played a regular role for the Leafs last season, appearing in 68 games and recording 7 goals and 19 points while shifting up and down the lineup.

With Marner's contract off the books and both Tavares and Knies signed to team-friendly deals, the Maple Leafs now have considerable cap space with which to try to fill out their roster, and can open up even more by dealing Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Reaves and/or David Kampf.